TWENTY-SEVEN food outlets in Croydon were rated ZERO out of five for hygiene in 2013.
The businesses, including kebab houses, pizza joints and butchers, have all been told to make "urgent improvements" following their latest inspections by environmental health officers.
They are among 105 businesses which fell below expected standards of hygiene last year.
That means a third of all outlets inspected in 2013 were rated zero, one or two out of five which constitutes a fail under Food Safety Agency guidelines.
The Advertiser has created an interactive graphic showing all hygiene inspections for 2,168 outlets in Croydon between 2007 and 2013. You can use it to find out what the experts make of your favourite café, restaurant or takeaway.![]()
The map shows the majority of the businesses which have failed the 'scores on the doors' inspections in the last six years have been in the north of the borough, with one in five along London Road.
Prominent businesses given low hygiene ratings last year include noodle bar Miso, in Croydon High Street, and a branch of Papa John's in Brighton Road, as well as a number of well-known restaurants.
This week we spoke to some of those given zero ratings and asked what they are doing to clean up their acts.
Those who spoke downplayed their ratings – which are published on a government website – and stressed improvements have been made.
But the council's most senior environmental health inspector said ratings below three stars are not handed out lightly.
"You don't get zero without having poor standards across the board and it doesn't come out of the blue," said Abigail Courtney.
"Most of the time these people have been given chances to improve.
"We do interventions on a regular basis and if someone has a zero it's likely they have ignored the advice we have given them and need to make urgent improvements. More often than not it will have been someone who was poor-performing in the past as well."
Our report focuses on inspections in 2013 but some of the zero and one ratings date back to 2011.
Outlets cannot be re-inspected within three months and, beyond that, the council says there is no obligation to do so within a set time period.
"Requested re-inspections," a spokesman said, "are carried out when inspectors' busy workloads permit."
None of the businesses the Advertiser spoke to this week appeared to know how the system works.
Kuku Kebab House, in Thornton Heath, was given zero stars after a visit last February, but has not been re-inspected.
"I would very much like the inspectors to come and see the improvements I have made," said Riaz Shaffi, owner of the family-run business for the past 18 years.
"They weren't really major problems, it was just a little dirty and greasy. Now it's absolutely spotless.
"The problem was my missus was unwell for a while so we weren't doing as much around the shop. Now she is back and everything is very clean again. Hopefully the inspectors will come soon and see how much better it is."
Mr Shaffi said he, like the other businesses given low ratings, chose not to display his score.
He explained: "Why would I tell everyone we got zero out of five? No, I promised to make improvements and I have.
"I'm not worried about what my customers would think. I've been here 18 years and I've never had a complaint or been reported to the council."
Cafe Lahore, in London Road, also questioned why they had not been re-inspected since being rated zero last April.
A member of staff told the Advertiser: "The council only told us we had to be more clean, but our food hygiene was nice and our food temperature was really nice.
"They told us they would come back after two weeks but they never turned up."
Lobo Halal Butchers, in London Road, West Croydon, was also rated as "poor" for food hygiene and safety and "bad" for structural compliance after following an inspection last October.
A spokeswoman for the shop said: "We're aware that we were given zero out of five. We were asked to do certain things which we then changed.
"We didn't agree with their rating but there were one or two things they told us to do where we thought 'OK, this could be done'. We had no idea that we were expected to do things like that."
The food ratings are designed to help people decide where to eat out or shop for food.
It covers hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways and hotels, as well as supermarkets and other food shops.
The scheme is run by local authorities in England and Wales and Northern Ireland in partnership with the Food Standards Agency.
Businesses are assessed in three areas – hygiene and safety, structural compliance and confidence in management – and are then rated on a scale of zero to five.
In Croydon in 2013, 27 businesses were given zero, 60 were rated one and a further 18 were given a rating of two out of five. Two hundred scored three or above.
Mr Kebabish, in London Road, was given the lowest possible rating after an inspection in April last year.
A man, who identified himself as the owner but would not give his name, said: "Yes [the inspectors] came here but they didn't tell us the result."
After being told the takeaway's rating, he said, surprised: "Zero out of five? They gave us a warning and then said they would come in the next two weeks to check it out again, but they didn't say zero.
"They came in the next two weeks and said everything is perfectly fine now."
The owner of Babylon Inn was so incensed by her business's poor rating that she invited the Advertiser to look at the improvements.
Formerly the Arkwright's Wheel pub, the venue in North End is now an "all you can eat" buffet restaurant.
It was rated zero following an inspection in July last year with environmental health officers describing food hygiene and safety as "bad" and structural compliance as "very bad".
Owner Hend Hamude said she has spent £300,000 in doing up the business.
"I want the council to come and see how fresh and clean the food is," she said.
"They can pretend to be customers and see how much everyone says thank you for the food we give them."
Another named and shamed was Tasty Jerk, in Whitehorse Road, which was fined last May after dead cockroaches were found in its "filthy" kitchen.
Asked whether the council should reinspect failing businesses on a more regular basis, Mrs Courtney said: "It's not our duty to go back and revisit every place that is bad.
"There is a mechanism within the system that they can appeal their scores and ask for a revisit.
"We will always have these places on our radar. If they are poor performers we will intervene before their next official inspection."
This week, in the lead-up to Valentine's Day, the council issued a press release "strongly recommending" diners choose one of 1,742 eateries in Croydon that have earned a hygiene rating of three or more stars.Note: In a small number of cases businesses locations could not be pinpointed on the map but have still been included in the list
