A cocktail bar in West Bridgford which also serves pizzas and associated sides has been given a food hygiene rating of 1 out of 5 because of "unfortunate timing", according to the venue manager. The Black Pearl on West Bridgford Road which also has a dancefloor was inspected on March 9, with a report into its performance recently published.
Three areas are inspected by a food safety officer. These are management of food safety, which in this case was rated 'major improvement necessary', hygienic food handling, which was rated 'improvement necessary', and cleanliness and condition of facilities and building, which was rated 'generally satisfactory'.
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The Food Standards Agency report, which Nottinghamshire Live has seen, found instances of raw food being stored next to cooked or ready to eat food, the wash hand basin was not in regular use and sections of the kitchen and cellar were found to be dirty. But the bar manager says these issues have been addressed since the inspection took place, and that if the inspector was to revisit, the venue would now achieve a rating of five.
Catherine Stone, manager of The Black Pearl, said: "Unfortunately, it was just one of those things. We had builders working on the outside of the venue on the morning the inspector visited.
"We are confident in our food handlers, it was just unfortunate timing. Builders were painting tiles outside with anti-slip paint, we were trying to tidy up after them which meant we could not get everything inside ready and it looked like a building site.
"We weren't set up ready to open for the day, and we've since had all the issues that were raised cleared. We're hopeful to get a rating of five next time, and all the feedback we've had since then has been positive."
