Crediton pub hit with 1 hygiene rating hopes to reopen kitchen next month

A CREDITON pub hit with a food hygiene rating of just 1 is aiming to reopen its kitchen next month after a full-scale clean-up and brand new kitchen equipment.

The Kirton Cow, on Crediton’s High Street, was handed a “major improvement necessary” rating – a 1 on the scale of 0 being the worst and 5 being the best – by environmental health officers.

An image, sent by an anonymous resident, appears to show the presence of maggots in an alleyway that leads to the back of the pub and which is accessible to the public.

It’s understood that environmental health officers were going to issue a higher score after their first visit, but wanted to return once a few relatively minor issues had been fixed.

However, in the intervening period before environmental health’s return, a problem with the pub’s waste contractor emerged, with its bins taken away, and a gap of weeks before an agreement was struck with a new waste firm that provided new bins and more frequent collections.

The anonymous resident said waste built up in a storage area around the back of the pub, near an entrance that can be used by disabled customers and parents with pushchairs.

And, given the heatwave-level temperatures during some of that time, the resident says their photo shows where the maggots appeared.

Prajeev Prakash, who runs the Kirton Cow – a former Wetherspoons pub – said an extensive clean of the pub had been conducted and that any signs of maggots had been removed.

He added that he was aiming to reopen the pub’s kitchen in August, depending on the arrival and installation of new kitchen equipment.

“It is such an old kitchen, and the pub used to be a Wetherspoons,” he said.

“I’ve decided to get a new dishwasher, even though it costs thousands to install one, because it was going to cost hundreds just to have the existing one checked.

“And with the combination oven, I’ve been told it can’t be repaired as it is more than 10 years old.”

Mr Prakash said he had been at the pub for over a year, and had hired a new chef that he stated had 45 years’ experience in the pub trade.

In terms of the pub’s bins, Mr Prakash said he now had a new contract with Biffa, which collects the waste regularly, meaning there was now no issue with bin bags piling up.

He said he had been helped by the environmental health officer to expedite an agreement with the new waste firm.

He added that the alleyway featured in the anonymous resident’s photograph was also clear.

“It’s all clean and I’m confident there are no problems,” he said.

“I’m hoping to reopen the kitchen at the start of August as long as the equipment has arrived.”

Mr Prakash’s brother, Praneev, claimed at the time of the inspection that the kitchen had been “closed for an extended period” and that the pub was not serving food to the public, but that it had received the go-ahead to resume food service.

He did not state specific dates, but the pub’s Facebook page reposted a customer’s review on May 15, and two posts in June promoted food offerings – albeit those two posts are tagged as “AI info”.

Praneev stated the issues highlighted by environmental health related “primarily to improvements required to the building and some older equipment, rather than the quality or safety of the food being prepared”.

“As these are improvements associated with an older property, we have been actively addressing them and continue to invest in upgrading the facilities,” he said.

“Food safety and hygiene have always been our highest priorities, and we are committed to achieving a higher food hygiene rating.”

He added that maggots had been present in the alleyway due to the issues with waste collections, but that as soon as it was identified, cleaning and pest control were undertaken.

“The area was treated promptly, and our waste collection has since returned to its normal schedule under our waste management contract,” he said.

“We continue to monitor the area carefully to ensure it remains clean and does not affect our premises.”

The 1 rating stated that while hygienic food handling was “generally satisfactory”, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building was graded as “improvement necessary”, while management of food safety was rated as “major improvement necessary”.

Mr Prakash said environmental health would revisit once the kitchen had been reopened to assess the premises.

Praneev Prakash added that the pub takes food safety “extremely seriously” and would “never knowingly serve food that was unsafe or below the required standard”, noting they had received no complaint about the food and that they eat food prepared in the kitchen themselves.