A Manchester-based curry restaurant has been fined more than £31,000 after a health inspector found its kitchen infested with cockroaches and mouse droppings.
The owners of Zam Restaurant, trading as Shahenshah on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, were found guilty of six food hygiene breaches. The fine is one of the largest ever handed to a restaurant in Manchester.
A Manchester City Council environmental health officer visited the restaurant in April and discovered infestations of mice and oriental cockroaches as well as filthy conditions in the kitchen and food storage areas.
After being shown photographs of the premises, the magistrates' bench said it was one of the worst cases of its type they had ever seen.
Councillor Jim Battle, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: "This is one of the biggest fines that's ever been handed to a restaurant owner in the city.
"The size of the fine represents how seriously these offences are treated. Keeping a restaurant in such a filthy, vermin-infested state shows a wanton disregard for the health of the Manchester residents and visitors to the city."
The owners of Zam Restaurant failed to appear at Manchester Magistrates Court and were convicted in their absence. They were fined £5,000, the maximum possible fine, for each offence and ordered to pay £1,251 costs.
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By Kerstin Kühn
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