Winchester City Centre Restaurant Fined in Court
The owner of Charles House Fusion of 12 Upper High Street, Winchester, has been fined £9,000 for 18 charges of failing to comply with food safety legislation.
Mr Eren Felek pleaded guilty to the charges when he appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates Court on Tuesday 19 June. As well as the fine he was also ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
The prosecution by Winchester City Council was taken following a routine inspection of Charles House Fusion by environmental health staff, Adam Spencer and Joanne Masters in December last year.
They found the premises to be very dirty and identified an active rat infestation. The conditions found were so bad that Mr Felek closed the premises whilst improvements were made to the satisfaction of the inspecting officers.
Commenting on the case Cllr Frank Pearson, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Health and Safety said: "In most circumstances environmental health staff will always give advice to businesses to ensure that they are complying with food safety, however the conditions found at this premise were so severe that the City Council had little choice but to prosecute."
He added: "The public have a right to feel confident that they can eat in food premises that are complying with food safety requirements, and businesses must understand that when they put the public at risk then they could well end up answering to the Courts."