Blackpool cafe Trellis Bistro near Winter Gardens and Houndshill Shopping Centre handed 1 out of 5 for hygiene

Inspectors were less than impressed when they paid an unannounced visit to the Trellis Bistro in Victoria Street on February 10.

The cafe – next to the entrance to the Houndshill Shopping Centre – serves breakfasts and the usual staple of sandwiches, toasties, jacket potatoes and omelettes.

A food safety officer gave the cafe the second lowest score after being disappointed with the management of food safety.

This relates to checks being in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat and evidence that staff know about food safety. It is also based on whether the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

The inspector also found improvement was necessary in regards to the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building.

This can include having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene, though the report does not say which aspects required improvement.

The inspector noted that standards of food handling were generally satisfactory, including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.

Mrs Giller, owner of the Trellis Bistro, said the inspector turned up when the cafe’s boiler was broken and the report and rating does not reflect their usual standards.

“Unfortunately our boiler had broken so we had no hot water from the taps,” she told The Gazette.

“However, we did have a dishwasher so all plates, cutlery etc were perfectly clean.

“As we were waiting for the parts to arrive the Environmental Health came out for their check. This was rectified very quickly and we now have a new boiler.

"We pride ourselves on providing excellent standards and service to all our customers and we are now waiting on a revisit and re-scoring from the inspector.”