'Filthy' restaurant fined after hygiene inspection

A restaurant found to be "filthy" throughout has been ordered to pay more than £3,400 in costs.

Coventry City Council food and safety inspectors found the cleaning at Chef Wang in Torrington Avenue, Coventry, was "well below standards" during a review in June 2023.

Staff were seen not wearing clean protective clothing and flies were found throughout the food preparation and handling areas.

Liang Zheng, the site's former business operator, pleaded guilty to three hygiene offences at Coventry Magistrates Court on 12 March.

The restaurant was first reviewed by council officers in June 2023.

Inspectors said that when questioned about the poor conditions, Zheng "did not appear to understand the gravity of the situation" and "did not think the conditions found by officers were poor", demonstrating that her baseline cleaning standards did not match those of food hygiene law.

Despite achieving a satisfactory food hygiene rating after working with the officers until July 2023, inspectors found that "major improvements" were needed as of the following June.

A further inspection in August found the food hygiene rating was "good".

Zheng pleaded guilty at the hearing to failure to keep the premises clean, failure to protect food from contamination, and failure to implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points principles.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £3,377.58 as well as a victim surcharge of £26.

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