A restaurant has pledged to keep squeaky clean after a mice infestation was found in its storeroom and a rodent ran over a diner’s foot.
Jimmy Spice’s Restaurant, in Wimbledon Broadway, was fined £10,000 by Wimbledon Magistrates Court for food hygiene offences dating back to March 2011 after a prosecution by Merton Council.
East and West Restaurants Ltd, the company who own Jimmy Spice’s, pleaded guilty to five offences following an inspection by the council’s environmental health officers on the evening of Friday, March 18.
The inspection was triggered after a customer complained to the council when a mouse ran over his foot during his lunch.
Officers discovered a serious mouse infestation affecting the two food storerooms on the first floor above the restaurant.
Mouse droppings were found throughout the storerooms and large quantities of food had been contaminated by the mice gnawing and urinating over the packaging.
The situation was so bad that the storerooms had to be closed on the spot and were not allowed to reopen until pest control measures had been improved and the contaminated food had been destroyed.
Mr Amrik Uppal, Managing Director of East & West Restaurant Limited, said it was “a matter of great regret” that the store rooms were allowed to get into the condition found by the council.
Mr Uppal said: “As a result the two rooms were closed immediately while thorough cleansing of these areas took place and proofing of the building was carried out.
“There was also the immediately implementation of new procedures, namely the appointment of a new pest control contractor, the thorough retraining of staff and the production of a new Health & Safety Handbook.
“The directors now carry out inspections throughout the premises whenever they visit Jimmy Spices’ premises to ensure, with the other procedures mentioned above, that this state of affairs never happens again.”
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