BBC targets Yates's outlet

The BBC has broadcast the edition of 'Rogue Restaurants' which led to the resignation of the manager and kitchen team at the Yates's bar in Reading,...

The BBC has broadcast the edition of 'Rogue Restaurants' which led to the resignation of the manager and kitchen team at the Yates's bar in Reading, Berkshire.

Broadcast last night (August 21) the latest edition of the programme showed an undercover reporter gaining a job as as kitchen assistant at the outlet despite having no food hygiene qualifications.

Secret filming showed pre-cooked food left unrefrigerated all day, with a sample sausage analysed by the programme found to contain high levels of bacteria.

At one stage, the reporter was left in sole charge of the kitchen when another member of staff was off sick.

As in previous episodes, the programme used local authority 'Scores on the Doors' ratings to identify premises to investigate. The Yates's in Reading was shown to have been given a zero rating, with its hygiene standards described as "unacceptably poor".

A statement from Yates's, owned by Town & City Pub Company, was read out on the programme acknowledging that the "lapse in hygiene and food standards was simply not acceptable".

The statement confirmed that the manager and kitchen team at the outlet had resigned, and that external hygiene consultants had been appointed to work with the local authority to ensure the premises were fully compliant with hygiene rules.