Hove restaurant boss banned after rats infest business (From The Argus)

Hove restaurant boss banned after rats infest business

4:44pm Thursday 26th November 2009 in

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A chef has been banned from managing any restaurant in Hove after a rat infestation deemed one of the worst food hygiene cases ever seen in the city.

Alaa El Dein Asfour, the owner of Riz Raz restaurant and shisha house in Western Road, Hove, has been banned from managing any eatery and fined more than £6,000.

Asfour, 56, of Rothbury Road, Hove, appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday with no representation and pleaded guilty to 12 food hygiene offences.

He was fined a total of £3,000 for the food hygiene offences and was ordered to pay £3,236 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Hygiene inspectors from Brighton and Hove City Council were horrified to find piles of rat droppings as well as a rodent hole where the vermin were free to enter the food preparation area when they visited last month.

In addition the hot water supply and lighting were inadequate and there was a build up of grease and dirt on the floor and in the cooker and oven where food is prepared.

In April this year Asfour appeared before Brighton Magistrates and pleaded guilty to 17 food hygiene offences. On that occasion he received a fine of £ 3,400 and was ordered to pay costs of £ 2,200.

Yesterday he was banned from being involved in the management of any food business. He will also not be allowed to make an application for this ban to be lifted for at least six months.

Asfour told the court the reason for the disrepair was the fall in his shisha trade after the smoking ban stopped people smoking the pipes inside.