‘Disappointed’ Dunelm statement after shock zero hygiene rating

The UK homeware brand’s Banbury store on Southam Road was inspected by Cherwell District Council‘s Environmental Health team on Tuesday, March 17.

Inspectors were far from impressed with what they found, handing the business a bottom-scoring food hygiene rating of zero out of five.

One particular problem was the management of food safety at the Banbury shop, which was deemed to require “major improvement”.

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This refers to having a system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat.

It also concerns whether there is evidence that staff know about food safety, and if the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

Another issue was the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building, which were also deemed to require “major improvement”.

This includes having an appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

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The brand has now issued a statement on the hygiene rating, commenting on how “disappointing” it is.

A Dunelm spokesperson said: “With 99 per cent of our stores receiving a five-star score, we’re clearly disappointed to have received this rating as it does not reflect the high standards of food health and safety we demand across our cafés.

“We took immediate actions to address the issues raised and have worked closely with the local authority to ensure the required improvements were made as quickly as possible.

“The health and safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority, and we take these matters extremely seriously.”