Hotel fined £38,000 for appalling conditions

A Suffolk hotel has been fined a total of £38,000 after health inspectors found appalling conditions in the kitchens.

Oxford Hotels and Inns Management, owners of the Riverside Hotel at Mildenhall, admitted breaches of the hygiene regulations during a hearing before Bury St Edmunds magistrates.

The court heard that when inspectors from Forest Heath District Council arrived at the three star 22-bedroom hotel in 2006 on a routine visit, they found food unfit for human consumption and open waste bins near pots and pans.

The company was fined £30,000 with £8,000 costs.

After the case council principal environmental health officer Tom Wright said: “It was the poorest anybody has ever seen and not just in Suffolk.

“It's the first time in five or six years that we found food items which were unfit for human consumption and which had to be condemned.”

Oxford Hotels said in a statement: “We accept the decision made by the court. We would like to stress to our customers that this was an isolated incident almost two years ago caused by a local management failing and following a comprehensive internal investigation, swift and decisive action has already been taken against those found to be responsible.

Wright confirmed that subsequent inspections had confirmed that the hotel had managed to maintain their standards.

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By Andrew Smith

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