A BURTON town centre eatery has been told to clean up its act by council food hygiene inspectors.
Drake’s Tea Room and Restaurant, in Union Court, off Union Street, was given just two stars out of a possible five under East Staffordshire Borough Council’s Rate My Place scheme.
Inspectors who visited the premises on September 12 handed the business a list of 14 issues which they were told to address, including ‘deep cleaning’ the kitchen floor and carrying out structural repairs.
Bosses were criticised for failing to take corrective action on a refrigerator whose temperature had risen above the legal limit of 8C, despite their having been made aware of the problem ‘on a couple of occasions’.
They were told to immediately clean or replace a carpet in the dining area which was found to be ‘dirty, with food and milk stains’, to repair a damaged worktop and to improve a wall which was comprised of painted brickwork which ‘does not permit adequate cleaning’.
Under the heading of ‘cleaning and disinfection’, inspectors found eight problems, including a dirty kitchen floor, walls and stairs, a fryer which was covered in grease and a grill which was ‘heavily carbonised’.
In his report, the inspector said: “The floor in the kitchen required a deep clean.
You must thoroughly clean the floor and maintain it in a clean condition.
“The wall behind the cooker, the area down the side of the cooker and the floor area around the bottom of the cooker were all dirty.
“The cabinet and wall next to the bin were dirty and the wall area to the side of the salad preparation area was dirty and could not be properly cleaned.”
Finally, staff were told to throw out a lettuce in a bowl in the fridge which had discoloured at the bottom.
No-one from Drake’s was available to comment on the report.
