The Breeze, at Island Harbour, closed its kitchen on Monday afternoon (15th August) after Environmental Health inspectors were shocked by what they found during a routine inspection.
The popular restaurant at Binfield made the decision to voluntarily and temporarily close down the kitchen after inspectors from the Isle of Wight Council fed back what they had found.
During the visit, inspectors discovered issues with poor cleanliness and a general lack of organisation, with the business deciding to close the kitchen straight away in order to rectify the issues.
The kitchen reopened on Tuesday.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has this week told Island Echo:
“An officer from Environmental Health visited the restaurant on Monday for a routine inspection.
“Issues with poor cleanliness and a general lack of organisation were found and the business agreed to close voluntarily for the rest of the day to get the premises up to standard.
“The inspector revisited on the morning of 16th August and was satisfied with the standards found. The premises has now re-opened.”
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UPDATE FRIDAY – In a statement, Gaynor Lavery of The Breeze has told Island Echo:
“We would just like to confirm that we closed the kitchen on Monday afternoon voluntarily when the issues were brought to our attention. We know that our customers deserve the highest standards, and we recognised from the visit that urgent action was required.
“The issues largely related to maintenance work that was needed on our large ‘walk-in’ fridge. We were able to make the necessary repairs on that same day, enabling us to re-open on Tuesday morning. The second inspection that took place on that morning confirmed that our kitchen and facilities were back to the high standards that we expect.
“If the issues raised had been serious, then we would have been compulsorily closed down for an extended period of time and obviously this did not happen.
“We would just like to add that these are extremely challenging times for anybody in the catering industry, as has been pointed out in many recent news stories. Staff shortages have become a major issue for many businesses in this sector and the Breeze has had to face this challenge like everybody else. Our staff are working extremely hard to provide and maintain a high-quality service for our customers, in these very difficult conditions. We just ask that customers come to the Breeze and judge for themselves.
“Finally, we are very pleased to be able to announce that we have recently employed a new first class chef and we are very excited about the new ideas that he can bring to our menu going forward. We would also like to thank our loyal customers for all their ongoing support, and for showing their faith in us by continuing to make bookings with our extremely busy restaurant”.
Why were they allowed to rectify faults and be inspected again the day after?
because they offered to close immediately and voluntarily – it wasn’t a mandatory closing and I suspect that the owners invited the inspectors back the following day, rather than make them wait for the obligatory period.
Not surprised, Plenty of rats in that marina, 2 and 4 legged.
Environmental Health inspectors now need to make an unannounced visit in two or three months just to ensure that standards are being maintained – something they should do with any premises that need improving
I agree an inspection should be more often and they should get someone qualified to run it and not trainees
Why don’t you all put your actual names instead of ‘nick names’ it’s a lovely place to go, majority of these closures are due to paper work, don’t believe everything you hear on the internet, I’m 59 and you have to see for yourself majority of the time.
Well what’s your full name “Susan”? You seem to be awfully forgiving of poor hygiene at a restaurant. How are we to know you aren’t one of the chef’s/owners trying to spin this in a positive light?
What utter rubbish tell me one establishment that poor hygiene is related to paperwork.
I would hate to eat in your house.
This wasn’t just paper work
How is your age relevant to this, Susan (if that is your actual name)?
There’s some filthy eating establishments on the island trouble is there not found out until inspected by then hundreds of people have probably frequented these awful places , do yaself a favour eat at your own establishment where you know the state of play
Yeah “The Star” needs a look at, overflowing bins, filthy tables, I could go on but you know the story.
As a former landlady serving food, I never had an issue with food hygiene. However, on visits to eateries run by members of local pub association, I was appalled by the standards in some – even so-called high end – and since leaving the trade have only eaten out at ONE restaurant, preferring to cook my own food, where I still don’t adhere to ‘the 3second rule’….. if it’s been on the floor, the only place for it is in the bin, NEVER on a plate.
Going the same way as the Folly
The Folly, yuk, people get up and dance on the tables! Visited once, never went back. Food wasn’t up to much either.
Get a life, have you never danced on a table? Anyway, provided the tables are cleaned afterwards, there’s no problem.
Your post is way out of date. This was the case 20/30 years ago. If this is when you visited “once” then you are very unfair to make such a comment.
That would’ve been over 10 yrs ago and with different owners…
Couldn’t have been much wrong if it was rectified in a day
Interesting we tried to go there Monday afternoon only to find a sign which said the kitchen was closed due to having no gas!
So not only did they fail an environmental health inspection but also lied to customers!
I for one will not be going there again as clearly they can not be trusted.
It happens, we are all human and have dropped the ball at work at some point, but usually with minor inconsequential things. There is a standard that must be met for any food outlet, and the Breeze didn’t make that standard. They weren’t ordered to shut but did so voluntarily, which is good. I don’t know if they contacted all those who had booked a table but they definitely didn’t call me. I get that they were trying to save face but in doing so they lied by putting a board outside saying “Kitchen closed due to gas issues” Kitchen closed due to unforseen circumstances would have been better than a blatant lie. By lying you do not appear to value customers.
Ate there last week, food and service was good, and we’re still alive.
I think it’s terrible!
Just paperwork! Yeah I’m sure ! We need more EHO’s to inspect all premises much more frequently than they do! .
Come on Kay Willett (company director) clean this place up and hire decent skilled staff.
Or perhaps put in a proper training structure
Eaten there a few weeks ago where management sat with customers smoking in a non smoking area, so they don’t give a toss
That’s that place closing soon then as will
Never return and rumour will spread
They only had 3 stars before the latest inspection
https://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/business/the-breeze-restaurant-newport-isle-of-wight-1444441.html
This was last year ago! A lot changes in a year and a 3 rating isn’t somewhere most people would eat at
‘Cleanliness and good manners cost nothing’ as my old Mum says…