Quality Fish and Chips, on Church Street opposite The Syndicate, had its premises licence revoked after councillors heard it had flouted a number of public safety laws.

A town hall licensing panel was told enforcement officers found a catalogue of failings, including no fire risk assessment in place,
no-one on the premises able to operate the CCTV system and badly fitted gas appliances during visits in December and January.

There were also dirty food preparation areas and pizza bases were stored on cardboard on the floor.

Gareth Shaw, senior public protection officer for health and safety, said he had safety concerns about fire extinguishing equipment, gas equipment and damage to electrical installations.

He said: "When you have people messing with gas equipment who don't know what they're doing, it's not far down the line that you have a gas leak and then an explosion."

The takeaway, whose peak hours of business are from midnight until 5am on Friday and Saturday nights, had been warned on several occasions but no improvements had been made.

FOR THE FULL STORY SEE WEDNESDAY'S GAZETTE.