The food business operators of a popular West Wales pub have been fined a total of £8,000 by magistrates after each admitting six food hygiene offences.

A court in Haverfordwest heard that when officers from the local authority visited The Watermans Arms in Pembroke, they found unclean structures and equipment, rodent droppings and a live rat in the cellar.

The court was told that officers from the council’s public protection division visited the pub in March.

As well as revealing the lack of an adequate food safety management system, officers from Pembrokeshire County Council’s public protection division found evidence of food not being protected against contamination.

They also discovered: cooked ham sitting in a pool of blood, presenting a risk of contamination by bacteria including E.coli O157; unclean structures and equipment; a lack of training, instruction and supervision of staff.

The business agreed to voluntarily close until immediate cleaning had been carried out and pest control measures put in place.

Defendants, Hannah Clode and Robert Morgan, expressed remorse. Clode said they had ‘naively’ put their full trust in the head chef.

The pub now holds a top hygiene rating rescore of 5.

Both were also ordered to pay £2,020.49 costs to the county council, which brought the case, as well as a victim surcharge of £170 each.

Afterwards, the county council cabinet member for housing and regulatory services, Pat Davies, stressed that the authority would not hesitate in the future to take action where serious contraventions of legislation were discovered by authorised officers.

Clr. Davies continued: “The level of fine demonstrates the serious nature of the breaches and spells out a clear message to all businesses to manage food safety effectively.

“This includes issues relating to pest control and taking action in their premises to prevent the risk of cross contamination of foods with harmful food poisoning bacteria, through a documented system.

“This system must be communicated, understood and implemented by all staff involved in food handling and preparation.”

Clr. Davies urged any business struggling to understand and apply food safety and standards requirements, to contact the authority’s public protection division which is able to offer consultancy visits and provide bespoke support and compliance advice.

“While we could not excuse the breaches identified at the premises, the business fully co-operated with the council in dealing promptly with the highlighted risks.

“I am also pleased to report that at the most recent inspection of the Watermans Arms, since this incident, standards have improved and been maintained.

“The premises has now been awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of 5, which is ‘Very Good’ under the statutory food hygiene rating scheme.”