Eating Out? Here's How UK Cities Rank For Food Hygiene
When you go to a restaurant what’s the first thing you look for? The decor, the menu or the food hygiene rating? Most of us don’t really inspect how hygienic a restaurant is, but it’s probably time we should. Despite the pandemic, food hygiene officials have continued to inspect restaurants and businesses around the country.
A new study by Essential Living looked at which well-known chain restaurants and takeaways have the best and worst hygiene ratings across the UK.
The report uncovered that London has the highest number of one-star hygiene-rated restaurants in the UK. Just 61% of London’s restaurants achieved the five-star (top) hygiene rating available from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Over 2,000 eateries in London scored under two stars in their hygiene ratings in the past year, making up approximately 6% of all London restaurants.
Newcastle came in as the most hygienic city in the UK, with over 86% of their eateries scoring the highest hygiene rating possible (5*). Nottingham comes out just behind with 85% of its eateries scoring 5* hygiene, and Belfast comes 3rd in the UK with just under three-quarters of its eateries being awarded the top hygiene rating.
Despite London having the most one-star ratings, Cardiff comes bottom in the UK for its hygiene ratings overall, with just under 60% of its eateries scoring the top hygiene rating. Nearly 5% of their eateries scored two or below for hygiene.
These are the most (and least) hygienic cities for eating out, according to the research:
Newcastle, 86.98% of eateries scoring high
Nottingham, 85.60% of eateries scoring high
Belfast, 74.53% of eateries scoring high
Brighton 73.06% of eateries scoring high
Sheffield 73.02% of eateries scoring high
Bristol 72.77% of eateries scoring high
Liverpool 68.24% of eateries scoring high
Leeds 67.56% of eateries scoring high
Manchester 63.32% of eateries scoring high
London 61.52% of eateries scoring high
Birmingham 60.04% of eateries scoring high
Cardiff 59.78% of eateries scoring high
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
