Another Spirit pub has been fined for food hygiene breaches, the second such case for the managed pub group in recent weeks.
The company was fined a total of £22,500, as well as £4088.42 costs at Swindon Magistrates Court, after pleading guilty four food and two health and safety offences at the Great Western in Swindon.
A visit by environmental health officer Louise Doughty in June last year found "generally poor" conditions, including old food debris, grease, dust and dirt, and dirty hand basins with no soap or hand drying facilities.
Staff in charge of food preparation had no training and could not answer basic food hygiene questions when asked.
Spirit said in mitigation that the staff responsible for the conditions had been dismissed and that the conditions found were not to the standard expected by the company.
A spokesperson said: "We take all matters of food hygiene and health and safety very seriously and we regret that on this occasion the pub did not meet the high standards we set. We apologised to the court and to the local authority.
"We took immediate action following the environmental health officer's inspection which was made over a year ago. When environmental health revisited they found the premises were to their satisfaction. We have since appointed a new manager at the Great Western and a new area manager."
Last month, the company was fined £17,500 for seven breaches of food hygiene rules at the Tickled Trout pub in Edinburgh.
Spirit was acquired by Punch Taverns in December 2005.