Punch punishes staff over hygiene exposé

Punch Taverns today confirmed that it has taken disciplinary action against individuals exposed in last night's Rogue Restaurants programme for allowing poor hygiene at three Spirit pubs in Westminster and Chelsea.

In the BBC1 programme, screened last night, undercover reporters working at the pubs discovered a mouse infestation problem in one pub; staff "recycling" food; and serving food that had been dropped on the floor.

In a statement, Punch said: "We are following up the content of the programme and have started to take disciplinary action against the individuals who have been shown to break our stringent health and safety guidelines.

"Based on the limited information disclosed to us prior to the programme being aired, we conducted a thorough internal investigation of the health and safety procedures in these pubs and have made a number of improvements both in terms of training and processes. Subsequent independent audits have shown that high standards have been achieved and maintained since this issue was brought to our attention.

"We would like to stress that these are isolated incidents that are not representative of our commitment to our customers and the high standards delivered by our pub teams."

Last week, Rogue Restaurants carried out an expose on Yates's in Reading, after which the chain's owner, Town and City Pub Company, announced that the manager and kitchen team had resigned.

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By Daniel Thomas

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