Infested pub was ‘risk’ to public

A Lancashire pub called the Top House was bottom of the list when it came to food hygiene, a court heard.

The pub’s kitchen contained a sickening menu including stinking raw meat unfit for human consumption.

And some food in a freezer was years past its best before date, Blackpool Magistrates Court was told.

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Prosecutors said inspectors also found clotted cream past its use by date and a putrefying box of porridge oats.

Samosas were also past their use by date.

And it was an infestation of mice which had been going on a food feast with evidence that chocolate cake mix, spaghetti and mashed potato had
been gnawed, prosecutors said.

Food marked “Reduced” had been frozen and other items to eat were past their best before dates.

And a dead mouse was also found in a dustpan.

Inspectors found storage areas at the pub on Freckleton Street, Kirkham, provided a safe haven for mice.

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The landlord of the pub Robert Whinn-Tulip, 57, of Dorchester Road, North Shore admitted breaching hygiene regulations.

Anita Elliot, prosecuting for Fylde Council – which had given the pub a “nil” rating for hygiene – told Blackpool Magistrates the Top House had served food to the public and its pool team.

But a check on the premises in July last year revealed that the public were in imminent risk because of the standard of the kitchen and equipment.

Whinn-Tulip told an inspector that rodents had been dealt with when they hadn’t and that the kitchen had been closed when it remained open, the court heard.

The pub also had chickens living in the back yard.

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Whinn-Tulip and his staff did mount a cleaning campaign and called in pest control.

Gary McAnulty,defending, said that kitchen was finally closed by his client who last week gave up the business handing the keys back to the brewery.

He added: “There is no evidence that any of this food was sold to the public or anyone being made ill.

“He took over the pub in 2013 and had experience of licensed premises but not of food.”

Whinn-Tulip was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £1,341.

No one at the Top House was available for comment.

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