THE owner of a pub at the centre of an outbreak of food poisoning has appealed to customers to give it another chance.

Michael Alan Flegg appeared in court last week to admit nine food hygiene breaches in relation to 25 customers who suffered gastoenteritis after eating at The Sutton Arms at Elton, near Stockton.

However, the 68-year-old - known as Alan - and one of the pub's two new managers, Chris Branning, insisted they have worked hard to improve standards since the Easter Sunday outbreak last year.

“The incident happened 14 months ago and since then a lot has changed. We’ve worked really hard to turn it around. We’ve put a lot of new systems in place," added Mr Branning.

“Alan has been here 32 years and he’s devastated at what happened. He’s spent a lot of money on the place since it happened.”

Mr Flegg said: “It’s hard for me because I’ve been in the business over 30 years, I’ve had about nine pubs, and I’m coming to the end of my time really, I should be retiring. It’s very upsetting.”

He said since the outbreak new people, including the two new managers, have been brought in and new systems have put in place, including careful checks and cleaning rotas.

He has also bought a steam sanitiser, a food “blaster” which brings the temperature of food down quickly, and even CCTV in the kitchen.

“My main concern is for my staff,” he added. “There’s 26 dedicated staff here and I don’t want any of them to lose their jobs," he added.

“Anyone is welcome to come and look around our kitchen - they can eat their meal in there if they want to!

“It’s been very hard for us to keep going but we’re here, we had a good reputation before all this for a long time, and we’ve brought the standards back up.”

Teesside Magistrates' Court heard Mr Flegg, who lives on the premises, was give five warning notices in 2010 for similar offences. The pub was also given a food hygiene rating of zero as a result of the inspection.

The prosecution was brought by Stockton Borough Council who said inspectors found pieces of decomposing steak together with filthy working conditions, broken equipment, a pest infestation, poor maintenance records and contaminated food.