Rat infestation discovered at East Sussex café

Rother District Council (RDC) said its officers visited Route 1066 Café in August last year following a report from a member of the public that there were rats in the café.

The café is situated on the A21, between Battle and Robertsbridge, and is popular with bikers.

The council said during an inspection of the kitchen, officers found fresh rat droppings under kitchen workstations and in the storerooms, rat paw prints in the dust behind a chest freezer, food packaging gnawed by rats and empty packets of rat poison which also had been gnawed by rats.

The business was open and trading, with staff were preparing food as the inspection took place, the council added.

A hole was also found in the storeroom, which acted as an entry point for the rats, and more rat droppings were found behind the building where rubbish was piled up, the council said.

RDC said that further investigations found that food hygiene records, a legal requirement for any food business, were not up to date.

Sandra Wells, 62, who lives above the café, was questioned by officers and admitted that she was aware of the rat infestation, RDC said.

The council added that she said she had tried to get help but had not been successful.

Ms Wells immediately and voluntarily, closed the business and began making the necessary improvements.

The council said the café remained closed for one week until the infestation was eliminated, a deep clean completed, the rat entrance holes blocked and the record keeping recommenced.

On Thursday (April 25), at Hastings Magistrates’ Court Ms Wells, as a director of Route 1066 Café Limited, pleaded guilty to three offences under Food Hygiene legislation, RDC said.

Route 1066 Café was fined a total of £6,000 for the three offences and ordered to pay a £2,400 surcharge and full costs to Rother District Council of £1,724.51, the authority added.

Cllr Kathryn Field, Rother District Council’s portfolio holder for environmental health, said: “We are pleased that the court has recognised the diligent work of our Environmental Health team in protecting the public health of our residents and visitors. When we are alerted to unsafe conditions, we act to make conditions safe for everyone.”