34 of the 41 Maidstone food hygiene ratings dated September scored 5. Two scored 1: a Gabriel's Hill supermarket and a kitchen in the Lockmeadow Food Hall.
Updated 2 November: late ratings have since reached the register, which now holds 54 September ratings, 38 of them 5s. They include a third rated 1, Muffin Break in Dukes Walk, Chequers Centre, on 23 September (15 for food handling, 15 for the building, 20 for management), and two rated 3: Mughal Dynasty, 14 London Road, and Krishna Indian Restaurant, High Street, Headcorn. Details in our October round-up. The figures below are as they stood on 12 October.
Forty-one Maidstone borough food businesses had a hygiene rating dated September on the Food Standards Agency register when we checked it on 12 October. Thirty-four of them scored the top mark of 5.
Two scored 1, “major improvement necessary”. One is a supermarket on Gabriel’s Hill in the town centre. The other is a kitchen in the Food Hall at the Lockmeadow Leisure Complex.
The two rated 1
Kurdistan Supermarket, 46 Gabriel’s Hill, was rated 1 on 4 September. The FSA publishes the three marks behind every rating, and lower is better in each. This one was marked down on all three: 15 for hygienic food handling, 10 for the cleanliness and condition of the building, and 20 for management of food safety.
Aroi Dee Maidstone, Unit 3, The Food Hall, Lockmeadow, Barker Road, was rated 1 on 10 September. Its picture is different. The building scored 0, the best possible mark, and food handling scored 5. The rating came down to one mark: 20 for management of food safety.
That is how the scheme works. The rating is not just a total. A single poor mark caps it, and a 20 on any one of the three areas means the premises cannot score higher than 1, however well it did on the other two. Management of food safety covers the systems and records that show a business can keep standards up from day to day.
Neither business had published a right to reply on the register on 12 October. Both can appeal, reply, or ask the council for a re-inspection once the problems are put right, and the register is updated when a new score is issued.
The month in full
Of the 41 September ratings:
| Rating | Premises |
|---|---|
| 5, very good | 34 |
| 4, good | 5 |
| 1, major improvement necessary | 2 |
Thirteen were restaurants, cafés or canteens. Seven were small catering operations, most working from home. Six were mobile caterers and five were school kitchens. The rest were four shops, three takeaways, a supermarket, a care setting and a pub.
The two 4s with a public shopfront were W J Crouch Butchers on The Green, Bearsted, on 7 September, and The Fat Pizza, 71 Union Street, on 14 September.
Among the 5s, some names will be familiar:
- Graysons Restaurants at Leeds Castle, 14 September
- Hollywood Bowl, Notorious BRG and We Are Chicken, all at Lockmeadow, between 7 and 17 September
- Bella Mia Ristorante E Pizzeria, 8 Pudding Lane, 11 September
- Thai Orchid, Bridges, The Broadway, 2 September
- Maidstone Grill, 54 High Street, 7 September
- Spice Lounge and Phoenix House, both on Heath Road, Coxheath
- Café Valence at Sutton Valence Village Hall and The Coffee Barn on the High Street, Sutton Valence, both 18 September
- H&G Bearsted Chocolatier, The Street, Bearsted, 14 September
- Butcher Of Brogdale at Newnham Court Shopping Village, 28 September
Five school kitchens scored 5. They were the caterers at The Maplesden Noakes School, Oakwood Park Grammar School, St Simon Stock Catholic School, Langley Park Primary Academy and Boughton Monchelsea Primary.
The year so far
The register keeps changing as late ratings arrive, so these are the counts as it stood on 12 October.
| Month | Ratings | Rated 5 | Rated 3 or below |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64 | 40 | 11 |
| February | 58 | 50 | 1 |
| March | 70 | 51 | 7 |
| April | 54 | 38 | 6 |
| May | 64 | 56 | 4 |
| June | 43 | 35 | 4 |
| July | 59 | 44 | 7 |
| August | 49 | 43 | 2 |
| September | 41 | 34 | 2 |
September is a low month so far, and that is partly timing. The newest Maidstone rating on the register is dated 5 October. Our August round-up was published with 37 ratings and the month now holds 49, including a 1 that arrived later. September will grow too, and we will update this report if a late rating changes the picture.
Who is carrying the lowest scores
A rating stays until the next inspection, so the borough’s current low scores go back further than September. Of the 1,455 premises on the Maidstone register today, 1,158 hold a 5. Two hold a 0 and 11 hold a 1.
Gabriel’s Hill stands out. Three of those 13 lowest-rated premises are on the same short stretch of it:
- Britannic Catering, 54 Gabriel’s Hill, rated 0 on 11 June
- Banicharnitsa Utro Pastry, 50 Gabriel’s Hill, rated 1 on 20 May
- Kurdistan Supermarket, 46 Gabriel’s Hill, rated 1 on 4 September
The borough’s other 0 is Jade House / Sushi Boss, 46 to 48 Tonbridge Road, rated on 27 July.
Esquires Coffee House at 23 Gabriel’s Hill, rated 0 in March, no longer appears on the register.
None of these ratings are a verdict on the food itself. The scheme measures the hygiene standards inspectors found on the day, not quality or taste.
What it means for you
If you are choosing where to eat. Look any business up free by name or postcode at ratings.food.gov.uk. Displaying the sticker is voluntary in England, so a window without one tells you nothing on its own.
If you run a food business here. Inspections are carried out by Maidstone Borough Council’s food safety officers. You must register the premises 28 days before you open.
If you think your rating is wrong. Appeals, replies and re-visit requests go through one form on the council’s food hygiene ratings page.
If you want to report a premises. Call the council’s environmental health team on 01622 602460 or 01622 602450.
Earlier months: August and July. Also see Maidstone planning applications and parking in Maidstone.
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