A CHINESE restaurant has been fined more than £8,500 for food hygiene offences.

City of York Council said an unannounced inspection in January at the Regency Restaurant in Barbican Road found poor levels of cleanliness and repair throughout.

“Specifically the ceilings, shelves, shelf supports, sockets, glass wash machine and trays, sink, window frame, door frame, fridge handles and light switches were all dirty and / or mouldy,” said a spokeswoman.

“The area around the refuse bins in the rear yard was also dirty and littered. In terms of equipment, the soft drink dispenser in the bar, can opener, metal steaming rings, bamboo steamers and meat cleaver were all dirty.

“One bamboo steamer also had woodworm. All of the hand wash basins were dirty or lacking in facilities required for washing and drying hands. In particular, at the kitchen hand wash basin and dim sum basin there was no soap or towels.”

She said the restaurant was given a food hygiene rating of 1, meaning major improvement was necessary, but standards had not improved when a further premises inspection took place in March. Because required measures weren’t in place to protect public health, action was taken against China Regency Ltd and Ms Xiu Lan Chen, 41, the director of the company, of Barbican Road.

“Although Ms Chen’s company, China Regency Ltd, only took over the restaurant around November 2017, she had previously operated the same premises in 2014 under the name Chang Le York,” she said.

“In mitigation, the court heard how Ms Chen trusted the managers too much and she accepted neglecting the restaurant.”

She said Ms Chen brought photos of cleaned equipment which were viewed by magistrates, who reminded her that her responsibilities were great when running food premises and she should expect to be dealt with harshly when they weren’t met,adding Ms Chen was fined £540 and ordered to pay a £54 court surcharge, and the company was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay a £170 court surcharge and £1,906.63 in costs.

Cllr Andrew Waller, executive member for the environment, said: “York offers many very good food premises and we want customers from the city and beyond to be confident in the quality of all the restaurants and takeaways they visit.

"Thanks to our food hygiene team’s vigilance, these issues have been identified and customers protected."