Westminster City Council fines the Duke of York £25,000

The Duke of York pub in London has been fined £25,000 by Westminster City Council after environmental health inspectors discovered large infestations of mice and cockroaches.

The pub on Victoria Street was owned by Scottish & Newcastle when it was shut down after the inspectors visited in October 2003 under an "emergency prohibition notice" because the infestations posed an "imminent risk of injury to health".

It was allowed to reopen five days later only after extensive remedial work.

At the court hearing the Spirit Group, which acquired the pub in November 2003, a month after it had been closed down, pleaded guilty to six contraventions of the Food Safety Act and was fined £25,500 and ordered to pay £1,837 in costs.

A spokesman for Spirit commented: "At the time, Scottish & Newcastle took immediate action to rectify the problems. Following Spirit's acquisition of the pub, stringent new controls, policies and procedures have been put in place.

"Spirit Group takes health and safety extremely seriously and has a number of measures in place to ensure consistently high standards in each and every one of our pubs."

A council spokesman said: "We will not tolerate unhygienic food businesses in Westminster."