Coffee shop hit with £40K fine for hygiene offences

A Berkshire coffee shop has been fined almost £40,000 for breaches of food safety and hygiene.

The owners of Coffea in Thames Street in Windsor were sentenced for 13 offences relating to food safety, hygiene, and health and safety matters.

Inspectors found kitchen areas were dirty, with build-up of grease and food debris, and had not been cleaned for a considerable time.

The premises had internal structural damage to floor and wall tiles and splash guards, meaning they could not be cleaned and had accumulated dirt.

A food store room had a damaged ceiling, meaning dirt and shedding particles could contaminate food.

There was a build-up of grease and dirt on window openings in the kitchens, which also failed to prevent the entry of insects.

Food was at risk of contamination from rodents, with evidence of gnawed shell eggs and pasta; entry points found in ceiling holes and droppings discovered on store room shelves.

There were no management systems in place to ensure rodent control, stock rotation, food temperature control or food room maintenance and cleanliness.

The inspectors said there was imminent danger to the health of both customers and staff – and the director of owning company Shabaneh Ltd, Fred Yaghoubi, agreed to voluntarily close the premises.

The voluntary closure notice was lifted seven days later, by which time the premises had undergone sufficient improvement and cleaning to satisfy the investigating officer.

Shabaneh Ltd, via Mr Yaghoubi, pleaded guilty to 13 offences on Friday 19 June 2015.

The bench at Friday’s sentencing hearing took the matter extremely seriously, stating the company’s culpability was high and there had been a serious risk to the public and staff.

After taking into account the early guilty plea and hearing mitigation (including details of the financial position of the company) they imposed sentences of £2,400 fines for each of the 13 offences, plus costs to be paid of £7,900 and a victim surcharge of £120, giving a total of £39,220.

Cllr Carwyn Cox, cabinet member for environmental services, said: “This is an excellent result. Securing a conviction in environmental health cases is the result of a lot of hard and coordinated work but is so important because we are talking about the safety and protection of our residents and visitors. Well done to our commercial services team and Shared Legal Solutions for all their efforts.”