THE OWNERS of a pub in Rhyl which was given a food hygiene rating of one have said they had “no intentions” of even serving food, with the kitchen still “taped off”.

The Swan Inn, at 13 Russell Road, was handed a one-out-of-five rating following inspection on February 13.

The pub only reopened in early December under new landlord and landlady Daniel Smith and Claire Ormrod, having been closed since October the previous year.

The inspection report into the business raised concerns about its food storage, kitchen cleanliness and food safety management procedures.

The report said the pub’s kitchen was “not in a satisfactory condition to handle food”, and highlighted a “poor appreciation of hazards and control measures”.

It found that there were “no food safety management procedures” and “some reluctance in recognising or accepting the need for food safety and hygiene control procedures”, with the business not yet registered with the food standards agency.

However, the owners of the pub, responding to the original article, said that the kitchen had been “out of commission” since their takeover of the premises.

They told the Journal: “This [the report] was done based on a kitchen that has been out of commission since the pub was taken over, so much so it has ‘do not use’ tape all over the equipment.

READ MORE:

Popular Rhyl pub re-opens after new owners are found

Rhyl pub handed food hygiene rating of one had 'mould growth'

“The information they had regarding the door registration certificate was incorrect so much so they came into the pub and asked for a person with no connection to the pub.

“We were informed we couldn’t store food in a domestic kitchen (held upstairs) which was corrected the same day - when questioned about the kitchen being out of use to the person that visited (was evident it was used for storage) the inspector had no interest.”

Despite criticism of its food safety management, the state of this kitchen, and the business’ handling of food, the owners said the pub has never served food, with no plans to do so in the future.

They continued: “As anyone knows, we don’t actually serve food at the pub, never have and had no intentions to - we have also never served sausage rolls, only pies which are all handled and prepared using a pie oven provided by the brewery designed to cook the pies to serving temperature.

“They are delivered from the bakery, frozen then transferred to the pie oven all within view of the customers, all temperatures are checked before they can be served.

“We are yet to have a single complaint regarding anyone becoming ill from them.

“Anyone wanting to come and view the process themselves or view the out of commission kitchen, which hasn’t been touched and is still taped up, are more than welcome.

“We will always listen to our customers and all we hear is how warm and welcoming the pub is and how clean the place is.”

The business’ denial of serving sausage rolls was after the report said defrosted sausage rolls with “mould growth” were found at the premises.