£11,000 droppings

Mouse droppings in the kitchen have cost a pub's owners £11,000 after they were prosecuted by Hackney Council.

Brendan and Ann McDonald, owners of Pub on the Park in Martello Street, London Fields, pleaded guilty to 31 offences under the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995, at Thames Magistrates Court.

They were each fined £3,100 and costs of £4,859.63 were awarded to the council, making a total of £11,059.63 to pay.

The pub, described to the court as a "free house" to mice, was first inspected on 5 August 1999, when mouse droppings were found in the kitchen and the cellar store area.

The kitchen floor was dirty and strewn with food waste and the ice-making machine was found to have a heavy build-up of limescale and dirt, exposing the ice used for drinks to contamination.

Repeat offences were found on re-inspections on 6 August and 12 August 1999, despite the then pub manager being advised and served with a notice of intention to serve a Food Safety Improvement Notice.