If you’re staying in a hotel in Greater Manchester any time soon, you’d be wise to check up on its food hygiene rating before ordering room service with your stay…
The food hygiene in hotels, bed and breakfasts and guest houses varies wildly across Greater Manchetser and even from borough to borough.
Wigan is officially the worst borough in Greater Manchester for food hygiene standards in its accommodation facilities, MM can reveal.
Figures from the Food Standards Agency reveal that the food hygiene ratings in hotels, bed and breakfasts and guest houses in Wigan is the lowest of all ten boroughs with an average of 3.54 out of a possible five.
Meanwhile Bury outshone the other nine boroughs in its accommodation, which came out on top with an average rating of 4.65/5, and Manchester was not too far behind with 4.54/5.
The Britannia Hotel in Standish received two out of five for their food hygiene and, on review websites, guests said the food was ‘inedible’ and of ‘poor quality’.
One woman commented: “We thought about getting our stuff and just driving home, what was supposed to be a romantic birthday night turned into feeling on edge about hygiene and not really wanting to be there.”
However, Wigan Council is currently working with hotels and guests houses in the borough to bring all the accommodation up to a rating of three of higher, and exceed the regional average.
Across the North West 95.5% of hotels and guest houses have food hygiene ratings of three or higher.
Alan Blundell, assistant director for regulation at Wigan Council, said: “Wigan Borough only has eleven hotels/guest houses, of which one we are already working with to improve.
“If this hotel makes the recommended improvements and achieves a three our score will be 100%.”
Catriona Stewart, Head of the Food Hygiene Ratings Team at the Food Standards Agency, said: “We encourage people to look for the hygiene rating when deciding which food outlet to visit, as it gives them an idea of what’s going on in the kitchen and behind the scenes.
“As customer awareness of the scheme increases, food outlets in Wigan and across the country will recognise that a high rating is good for business.
“Food businesses that receive a low rating must make improvements to hygiene standards, and the food safety officer from the local authority will give advice and guidance to make sure these are made.”
Image courtesy of Gabork, with thanks
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