A CITY hotel and bar has scored one out of five for food hygiene, but the manager claims the problem will be easily fixed.

Severn View Hotel’s ratings have been slipping since at least last June, when it dropped from a three to a two, before the most recent visit from inspectors on April 1.

But a man claiming to be the manager, though he refused to give his name, said the rating was so low because an up-to-date food hygiene rating book is needed.

He said: “We have restored the kitchen and we didn’t fill out the book, which is an instant fail. We are waiting for the new book to come in [following the work].

“It details how the kitchen is run and all the checks [staff make].”

He claimed since the initial visit on April 1, inspectors had returned and confirmed that if a new book is introduced it would bring the rating up to a four.

The Worcester News applied for the full report, but it was not available before we went to print.

The brief version of the report says the management of food safety needs “major improvement.” This includes “system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat” and that there is “evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.”

A Worcester City Council spokesman said the hygiene book is a “record of your hygiene regimes – how regularly surfaces are clean, that sort of thing. If you don’t have that you will be marked down.”

But he added: “I’m pretty sure having the book wouldn’t simply bump you up that many notches.”

The report said hygienic food handling is “generally satisfactory” – this includes “food preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.” However, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building needs improvement.