Restaurant fined over kitchen cockroaches and mice

THE owners of Baburchi’s restaurant in London’s East End have been fined nearly �4,000 for cockroaches and mice in the kitchen. Public health officers found cockroaches throughout the kitchen and a decomposed mouse carcass in the dry storeroom stuck on a sticky trap when they called in at the premises in Bethnal Green

THE owners of Baburchi’s restaurant in London’s East End have been fined nearly �4,000 for an infestation of cockroaches and mice in the kitchen.

Public health officers found cockroaches throughout the kitchen and a decomposed mouse carcass in the dry storeroom stuck on a sticky trap when they called in at the premises in Bethnal Green.

The cockroaches were crawling on shelves above where open ready-to-eat foods were kept and in the kitchen sink next to dishes used to serve customers.

BURNT DROPPINGS

Mice droppings were found on food preparation tables, inside the oven and behind freezers. The droppings were left for so long in the oven that they were found to be burnt, magistrates heard.

The food storage room at the rear was cluttered with rubbish which attracted pests. Mouse droppings were even found inside vegetable boxes.

Restaurant co-owner Azizur Khan, 32, from Blackwall, Poplar, told Thames magistrates on Friday: “Both of us were working full time and left the head chef in charge.

“If we knew it would come to this, we would have taken more responsibly in running the business.”

He and his business partner Faruque Ali, 31, from Barking, both admitted breaching public food hygene regulations and were fined �1,865 each.