BBC reveals hygiene breaches

Two major managed pub companies, Yates's operator Town & City Pubs and Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), have taken disciplinary action against staff after food hygiene lapses uncovered in a BBC documentary.

A Yates's site in Reading and a Harvester pub owned by M&B feature in this evening's documentary, Rogue Restaurants on BBC1 at 8pm.

The manager and kitchen staff of the Yates's venue have resigned while M&B has ordered an independent audit of all 156 Harvesters on the back of the BBC's findings.

A spokesman for Town & City Pubs said: "The BBC alerted us to some problems at our Reading location.

"This lapse in hygiene and food quality is simply not acceptable.

"Since we received their correspondence the kitchen has been professionally steam-cleaned by an external contractor, the manager and kitchen team have resigned with immediate effect and external food-safety consultants have completed a detailed audit of the site and are working with the local Environmental Health Office to ensure these premises are compliant.

"Customers can be assured that we will not tolerate poor hygiene standards in any of our bars."

M&B said it reviewed the rigour of its processes and procedures in the wake of the BBC's findings.

Harvester operations director Kieren Rabbitt said: "Food safety is our top priority and responsibility. We expect every employee to adhere to the rigorous documented food-safety processes in place. Any breach is taken very seriously as we do not tolerate unprofessional behaviour.

"We completed a full internal investigation and have taken the maximum disciplinary action available to us."