A Chinese restaurant owner was fined £10,000 after city magistrates heard the kitchen was filthy and breached hygiene rules.

Raymond Lau, of Tsing Tao, in Preston Street, Brighton, admitted ten offences under the Food Hygiene Act when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court. He was ordered to pay £900 costs.

The court heard walls and ceilings were dirty, there were food spills on the floor, cobwebs clung to dusty shelves, food stored in a faulty fridge posed a serious risk to customers' health and flies were seen buzzing around uncovered bowls of thawing ingredients.

Magistrate Audrey Simpson told Lau, of The Highway, Brighton, it was one of the worst cases the bench had come across. She said: "You ignored previous enforcement notices and only took action to improve hygiene eight months after the inspection."

Len Batten, prosecuting for Brighton and Hove City Council, told the court the restaurant was warned in 1999 to clean up by environmental health officers.

During a routine inspection in November last year officers found serious non-compliance with food safety regulations because of poor cleaning standards in the kitchen and food storage areas.

He said food controls were unsatisfactory as there was no coding or identity details for stock control and rotation purposes.

There was a large pile of unwashed and dirty utensils, while meat was thawing in the designated washing-up sinks.

There was a dark residue on the ceiling which was a build-up of grease from cooking. Ceramic tiles on the walls were missing, making it harder to keep the area clean and risked contamination from loose tile cement. The grease and dirt on the floor made it slippery and hazardous.

The owner was told to take immediate action to clean up and introduce effective hygiene standards.

Health inspectors returned in December and discovered there had been a minimal attempt to clean up. There was still grease and dirt around and safety regulations continued to be breached, including cooked and raw duck hanging together in the chiller.

The offences included failing to ensure food preparation was carried out in a hygienic way, failing to ensure food was protected against contamination likely to make it unfit for human consumption, failing to ensure raw materials and ingredients were stored in appropriate conditions, and failing to ensure fittings and equipment were kept clean and in good order. He was also prosecuted for failing to ensure food handlers were trained, supervised and instructed in food hygiene.

Mr Batten said when the health inspectors returned again in May to check for improvements they discovered the state of the kitchen was worse. Another visit was made in June when it was revealed there had been no improvements.

But the court heard since that date more than £3,000 had been spent on cleaning bills.

Tim Deacon, defending, said Lau, whom he described as an experienced restaurateur, took the case extremely seriously. He had left the day-to-day running of the restaurant to a manager and had relied on him to maintain food safety standards.

He said Lau was shocked when city council staff first showed him photographs they had taken of the kitchen.

Mr Deacon said: "He was surprised how bad things were. It is fair to say it is quite clear the food hygiene regulations have been, by and large, overlooked and ignored. Since then he has taken considerable steps to ensure the regulations are attended to."