WHITE LION IN NITON CONFIDENT OF RE-GAINING 5 STAR HYGIENE RATING FOLLOWING COUNCIL’S 1-STAR VISIT

Niton’s The White Lion has been handed a 1-star food hygiene rating following a recent inspection but the pub’s management team have told Island Echo they are committed to making sure they never receive a 1-star rating again.

It was on the 3rd September that the Isle of Wight Council’s Environmental Health Team visited the establishment of High Street.

The inspection found that the pub was failing to implement controls and monitoring procedures at a number of critical points including; not completing weekly probe calibration records and marking cleaning charts as completed even though they weren’t.

Article continues below this advertisement

Inspectors said that they found foods – such as – mozzarella and liquid egg were out of date with a container of full fat cheese more than 7 days past its use by date. Other foodstuffs – like grated cheese, chutney and mayonnaise – had been opened but not labelled so it was unclear as to when they needed to be thrown away.

Burgers and sausages in the walk in chiller were undated and there were issues with the labels on lamb shank packs and packed steaks. Inspectors also discovered issues in the thawing off foodstuffs and the storage of high-risk food.

At the time of the inspection, the standard of cleaning throughout the premises was very poor. This included both internal and external areas and structure and equipment. There were heavy build ups of dirt and also accumulations of food and general debris. These areas included:

The wash hand basin including the taps
• The window sill next to the wash hand basin and surrounding wall area
• Heavy build up of dirt and food and general debris under all units in the kitchen including both fridge and freezer units, both worktables and the oven units
• The wheels of all units
• On the floor in between work units
• The kitchen bin
• Dust on the fan and wall adjacent to food preparation area
• Door seals of fridges and freezers
• Handles on fridges and freezers, particularly the walk in chiller and freezer handles on both the interior and exterior handles
• The exterior and the floor of the walk in chiller
• Loose foods and debris on the floor of the walk in freezer
• The area behind the walk in chiller and walk in freezer against the fencing
• Grease on the oven canopy
• Mud on the steps into the main kitchen
• Wooden shelving in the storage area
• An accumulation in the gap where the flooring was coming away from the far wall of the kitchen
• Mould on the edge of the ice bucket in the bar
• Oil spillage on the floor by the fridge unit under the kitchen window where the bucket of used oil had been placed
• Probe wipe container
• Spillage of mayonnaise on the outer surface of the container of mayonnaise container in the walk in chiller

It was noted however that upon revisiting the premises on the 5th September 2024, the owner and staff had been very pro-active and the standard of cleaning had significantly improved throughout the premises. The external area had also been cleared and many of the structural issues identified had been addressed.

Article continues below this advertisement

Food Hygiene Rating – Scores on the Doors

Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures – 10
Compliance with structural requirements – 20
Confidence in management/control procedures – 10

Total score: 40 (1 rating)

A spokesperson from The White Lion, has said:

“At the White Lion we take the recent Environmental Health Officer (EHO) inspection and its resulting in a one-star rating very seriously. We fully acknowledge that we did not meet the high standards we have always strived to maintain. We want to clarify that we make no excuses for this shortcoming.

“The unexpected loss of our head chef,  followed by our Manager at the beginning of August presented in significant challenges in staffing our kitchen. However, following a follow up inspection the very next day the EHO was pleased to report that our kitchen has returned to the high standard our customers have come to expect from us.  Following on from hiring a new management team we have also hired a new Head Chef.

“We have formally requested a re-inspection and are confident we will achieve a five-star rating. We understand that a report like this can be damaging to our business, and we are genuinely embarrassed by the outcome. We want to assure our valued customers and the community that we have learned from this experience, and we are committed to ensure this will never happens again.

“Thank you for your understanding and continued support.