Exclusive
Mouse droppings on chopping boards - Kentish Town Chicken Shop shut for posing ‘extreme risk to public health’
Chicken Shop on Highgate Road, Kentish Town - Credit: Archant
Food safety officers shut down the Highgate Road restaurant, affiliated with the trendy Soho House group, after discovering breaches of hygiene rules including “a widespread and active rodent infestation resulting in an imminent risk to health.”
Mouse droppings were found on chopping boards at the restaurant - Credit: Archant
After their inspection on July 25 and July 26, members of Camden’s environmental health team reported: “During the inspection rodent (mice) droppings were noted in the the service kitchen area on food equipment(chopping boards)”
Rodent droppings were also found on the kitchen floor of the restaurant in Highgate Road.
There were also droppings on shelves holding takeaway materials, food equipment and cleaning cloths.
The inspection also found evidence of an infestation of flies in the kitchen area and said that the kitchen and service areas were “dirty”.
You may also want to watch:
Inspectors gave the restaurant a zero hygiene rating and said that “In view of the extreme seriousness of the situation” they would take emergency action to shut it down.
The restaurant signed a voluntary closure agreement following the inspection on July 26 and was told it could not reopen until an environmental health officer “deems the risk to the public has been removed.”
Most Read
- 1 O2 Centre redevelopment consultation opened by Camden Council
- 2 Government punishes Haringey Council over missed housing target
- 3 Remembering 'positive, caring and kind' Hornsey pupil Amy
- 4 'Two people who love each other': 70 years together for Hermi and Shirley
- 5 'Dumped and forgotten': Homeless families on life in England's Lane hostel
- 6 Talking Bob Dylan, life, culture, politics and Shakespeare
- 7 I completely trust Aubameyang says Arsenal boss Arteta
- 8 UCS Hampstead pupils launch podcast to help GCSE history revision
- 9 West Hampstead flat owners face £100k bills for flammable cladding
- 10 Morrisons opens replacement store in Chalk Farm
Managers say they were shut until safety officers gave it a clean bill of health and reopened on August 1.
The Chicken Shop restaurant was launched by the trendy Soho House group founded by entrepreneur Nick Jones. It is now run by Quentin Restaurants Ltd who say they are a separate entity.
But it shares the same registered address as Soho House UK Ltd in Dean Street and Nick Jones is listed at Companies House as a director of both.
Soho House was founded in London in 1995 by Jones as a private members’ club for people in the creative industries and went on to open clubs across Europe and North America, as well as restaurants, cinemas, workspaces, spas and bedrooms.
The Kentish Town branch of Chicken Shop is in the basement under the group’s Pizza East restaurant and offers takeaway as well as eat-in.
A Quentin spokesperson said: “For two days last summer there were issues noted in the basement and we voluntarily closed. Inspectors returned and were satisfied that everything had been addressed, and we reopened that week. We look forward to our next inspection in the near future.”
She confirmed the branch was currently open as usual.
