The owner of a restaurant chain with three branches in Brent has been fined £30,000 for hygiene offences after diners at his eatery in Shepherds Bush fell ill.
Cengiz Erpolat admitted eight charges after environmental inspectors uncovered a catalogue of failures including a trail of animal droppings at his Woody Grill branch Uxbridge Road.
Erpolat owns two branches of Woody Grill in Kilburn High Road and a third in Willesden High Road.
The Woody Grill branches in Kilburn were both given a rating of two (improvement necessary) by the Food Standards Agency following their latest inspections in August last year.
In January last year the Willesden branch recieved a rating of four (good).
He has previous convictions for similar hygiene offences at his restaurant in Ealing.
Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court heard the Shepherd’s Bush branch had a kitchen caked in filth, cooked food was left unprotected from raw food, no pest control measures were in place and animal droppings were found in the back of a store room.
In addition food preparation surfaces, chopping boards and fridge door handles were covered in dirt.
Cllr Wesley Harcourt, Hammersmith & Fulham’s cabinet member for environment, transport and residents’ services, said: “When customers eat out the very least they can expect is food that doesn’t make them ill.
“This heavy fine should serve as an indication of just how determined we are to stop restaurant owners motivated solely by financial gain cutting corners and selling dangerous food to their customers.”
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