Low hygiene rating not 'cleanliness issue' - cafe
LDRSA cafe has sought to reassure its customers following a drop in its food hygiene rating.
Poppy's Caffe on Marton Road, Middlesbrough, said its recent one-star food hygiene score was due to the structure of the shop, rather than "food or cleanliness issues".
It was inspected on 7 November and The Foods Standards Agency (FSA) found it needed to improve "food handling" as well as "cleanliness and the condition of the facilities and building".
However, staff at the cafe said they do not want to lose custom through the rating, and had "already worked through" issues highlighted.
The FSA also said "major improvement" was needed in the management of food safety.
The agency gives food hygiene ratings from zero to five, with five being the top score.
A cafe worker said: "We're trying to get the place to be busier, but the first gentleman who came out said the premises aren't big enough for how much custom we are doing."
'Just the structure'
They added that the boiler under the sink was leaking, with a replacement being sought, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
"The current boiler we've got is leaking - we've had three of them, so they're obviously not working," they said.
They said that fixing the boiler issues was "quite a big job" and would happen over the next few weeks.
"Everything else that got commented on, we've already worked through," the worker said.
Once the boiler was fixed staff said they would ask the FSA to revisit, because they did not want the rating to reflect being "anything to do with the food" and it was "just the structure" of the shop.
