VENTNOR Winter Gardens has been slapped with the worst possible food hygiene rating following allegations a customer was 'feeling unwell' after eating there.

A build-up of dirt, grease and food debris was found as well as out of date, high-risk foods.

It was given a zero hygiene rating and also an improvement notice from the Isle of Wight Council as inspectors had reasonable grounds to believe it was 'failing to comply' with regulations because there was no documentation to demonstrate 'the effective application' of a food safety management system.

The restaurant has since said it has worked on the issues, installed a new food safety management system with the support and assistance of the council, and complied with the notice served.

A Ventnor Winter Gardens spokesperson said they welcome a re-visit and re-score in the new year.

Environmental Health inspectors visited the establishment on Pier Street, on October 21 and found three areas that had to be dealt with immediately.

In their report, inspectors said they had received an allegation of a customer feeling 'unwell' after eating fish and chips there.

They said while there was 'no direct evidence' to suggest this was the cause of the customer illness, from observations at the time it 'was possible the quality of the food was impacted' by the age and condition of the oil and cleanliness of the deep fat fryer.

The overall cleanliness, inspectors said, was poor and unclean in a number of areas finding a build-up of food debris, grease and dirt.

In one of the service refrigerators, there was evidence of mould growth.

Referring back to Ventnor Winter Garden's previous inspection in February 2020, when the venue got a score of one out of a possible five, inspectors said they were disappointed to find 'a number of the same areas unclean'.

There was also an area in need of repair, which hadn't been sorted despite attempts to hire tradesmen, hindered by Covid.

The Ventnor Winter Gardens spokesperson said the council has allowed until the end of January to complete the work as a contractor has been scheduled.

A section of wall directly above the cooking wall was damaged, inspectors said, in very poor condition, unclean and not of suitable construction.

While there was a system of stock rotation and control, it was not being implemented as inspectors found 11 high-risk items with a past use-by date — including cooked sausages, pastrami and eggs and a number of lower-risk items in the dry goods store. They were, at the time, voluntarily disposed of.

Inspectors saw a risk of contamination, in one instance ciabatta breads were thawed on top of the chest freezer, which was visibly unclean.

There was also irregular monitoring of chilled high-risk foods with two days worth of checks not recorded and in the bar area, none at all.

Inspectors found in the bar area milk and other dairy products were being stored at 10.5ºc when it should be at or below 8ºc.

Misleading menu items were also found, with food products marked from the Isle of Wight when it was unclear if that was the case.

Its 'Isle of Wight Traditional Breakfast' seemingly only had tomatoes definitely linked to the Island, with no evidence to suggest the other items were from the Island.

The spokesperson for Ventnor Winter Gardens admitted the point and said the breakfast has subsequently been renamed to avoid any confusion.

They also said staff had been retrained, and essential kitchen maintenance and redecoration had been carried out.

The spokesperson said: "The Winter Gardens was re-inspected 14 days after this report and given the indication of a much higher score once the final piece of maintenance has been completed and on re-inspection in the new year."