Judge slams ‘filthy' restaurant kitchen

A Chinese restaurant in Brighton has been fined £14,000 after cockroaches were found in the kitchen.

An environmental health officer visited China Garden in Preston Street last December after a customer complained of poor hygiene.

The officer found traps with live and dead cockroaches, food debris, and cables covered in grease, and saw a kitchen assistant sneeze in his hand and wipe it on his clothes.

China Garden proprietor Kwai Cheung, 45, pleaded guilty to seven counts of breaching the Food Hygiene Act at Lewes Crown Court on Friday. Three other charges were left on file.

The court heard that Cheung had no previous convictions. His company has a turnover of just under £1m a year. It was fined £2,000 for each count.

Judge Simon Coltart also ordered Cheung to pay £4,800 costs within three months or face prison.

He added: "The kitchen was in a disgracefully filthy condition and extremely poor state of repair. It has been said that nobody has ever been poisoned as a result of it. That is true, but perhaps that is more only good luck than anything else.

"It's quite clear conditions were ripe for contamination even though it had not actually occurred."