Yates's staff resign after TV hygiene exposé

The owner of pub chain Yates’s has confirmed that the manager and kitchen team at its Reading outlet have resigned following a BBC exposé of poor hygiene standards on the Rogue Restaurants programme.

In the latest edition of the BBC1 series, broadcast last night, an undercover reporter was given a job as a kitchen assistant despite having no food hygiene qualifications.

Secret filming showed pre-cooked food, such as burgers and sausages, left unrefrigerated all day, while the reporter was left in charge of the kitchen when the manager was off sick.

A statement from Yates's owner Town & City Pub Company said: “The BBC alerted us to some problems at our Reading location. This lapse in hygiene and food quality is simply not acceptable.

“Since we received their correspondence the kitchen has been professionally steam-cleaned by an external contractor, the manager and kitchen team have resigned with immediate effect and external food-safety consultants have completed a detailed audit of the site and are working with the local Environmental Health Office to ensure these premises are compliant.”

Earlier this month, Mitchells & Butlers said it would take disciplinary action against managers after Rogue Restaurants showed breaches of hygiene standards at two of its Harvester pub restaurants.

Caterer this week revealed that the owner of an Italian restaurant in Soho, called Little Italy, was in dispute with the BBC after Rogue Restaurants carried out an expose on a separate restaurant with the same name. His solicitor accused the programme of making no effort to differentiate the two restaurants.

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By Daniel Thomas

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