Basic Food Hygiene Certificate

Dead cockroaches, mouse droppings and filthy kitchen equipment lead to a failed inspection for T.G.I Friday’s flagship branch in Covent Garden.

The Covent Garden branch was closed down for six days last year, and in August the branch was ordered to pay a £30,000 fine after Environmental Health Officers found mouse droppings in a bag of sugar, declared the bar area unhygienic and found that that the restaurant wasn’t providing hot water for customers in hand basins.

Mouse infestation:

The council sent Environmental Health Officers to the Covent Garden branch of T.G.I Friday’s after receiving six separate complaints from the restaurant’s customers, after they’d spotted mice outside the establishment.  When the case was taken to court, it emerged that staff had known about the mouse infestation for over one year before the Environmental Health Officers visited.

The prosecutor, Felicia Davy said:

“The floors and the kitchen were filthy and a pile of cockroaches was found in a drawer.  It was clearly a breeding ground for rodents.”

The company admitted to six charges of breaching food hygiene laws.

Councillor Daniel Astaire, cabinet member for Community Safety, said:

“These were appalling hygiene breaches, particularly for such a renowned restaurant chain which frankly, should have known better. We hope this serves as a lesson to all food businesses that such poor standards are not acceptable and that we will always push for the strongest possible punishment against offenders.

“The restaurant industry is a vital part of our economy, and we will not tolerate any behaviour which could jeopardise it or the safety of our millions of visitors.”

Clean up:

The restaurant was allowed to reopen after the six-day closure period, only after spending £66,000 on a clean up of the kitchens.  It’s been reported that inspectors caught 65 mice from the American-themed restaurant last July during the clean up.

The Covent Garden restaurant seems to have got its reputation back on track, as last week the branch held the ‘ T.G.I Friday’s UK Bartender Championship’, which saw Manchester local Adam Friend win the final.  He’ll now go on to take part in the European Championships, representing the UK.

Don’t risk having to pay £96,000!

£66,000 for the clean up + £30,000 fine = a very expensive mistake.  Ensure your staff are properly trained in food hygiene, train them online and receive a certificate the next working day!  Click here to learn more about our food hygiene certificates.

Tags: Bartender, Cockroaches, Environmental Health, Food Hygiene, Mice, Mouse Infestation, T.G.I Fridays