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Outworkers
Returns made by 158 (174) employers, together with 124 (168) notifications from other local
authorities, accounted for a total of 1,841 (1,814) outworkers. Of these 760 (794) were residing in
the City of Westminster.
Nearly all were engaged in the tailoring and gown trades. (Table 23, page 77.)
Basement Bakehouses
The Factories Act, 1961, which re-enacted with amendments the Act of 1937, requires that a
'basement bakehouse' shall not be used unless a Certificate of Suitability has been issued by the
Council and that the premises were so used in 1937. There are three basement bakehouses in
Westminster and the quinquennial review was held during the year. The inspection of the individual
bakehouses showed they were suitable for continued use, and the certificates of suitability were
renewed.
Food and Catering Premises—Inspection
The estimated number of food and catering premises in Westminster on the 31 st December, 1969
was 6,816 categorised as shewn in Table 24, page 77.
During the year 8,427 (10,230) visits were made by the public health inspectors and 472 (352)
informal notices were served in respect of matters requiring attention.
During the year some 702 complaints were received concerning general matters affecting food
premises, staff etc. Appropriate action was taken in each instance.
Catering Establishments
All who are connected with Westminster, and in particular the Soho area, cannot fail to be
impressed by the concentration of catering premises actively in operation day and night, and where the
problems of seeing that proper standards of food preparation are maintained are self-evident. To be
able to report an entirely satisfactory state of affairs in the catering industry as far as this department
is concerned would require a far greater concentration of inspections than can be achieved with the
existing number of staff available and, furthermore, would need the essential co-operation and in
many cases a change of outlook both by members of the catering trade and their patrons, the general
public. However, certain positive factors have improved the hygienic potential of food premises.
There has been an enormous contribution to improvements in the catering industry in such things as:
a. Planning of kitchens
b. Production of easily cleansed equipment
c. Efficient detergents
d. Refrigeration in which field, fortunately, economic factors of preserving food, run
parallel to hygienic considerations.
These improvements have not, however, in all respects produced the desired results. Much has
been nullified by a deficiency in staff management, weak, indifferent and remote control of the daily
routine in the kitchen and the difficulty in obtaining suitable kitchen staff.
The year has again been one of considerable activity by the public health inspectors in the catering
section, and a great deal of the inspectors' time has been taken up not only with necessary routine
inspections, but with the study and discussion of proposals for new establishments or alterations in
existing ones.
In an endeavour to assist all those who desire to open catering establishments, a list of 'General
Requirements' is available, setting out matters about which, in general, the department requires to be
satisfied, bearing in mind eventual nuisances which might arise from noise, vibration, smell, refuse
disposal etc.
Much of the inspectors' time is taken up with ventilation problems, and with associated complaints
of cooking smells and noise from the operation of the plant. These are matters which continue as a
principal source of complaint.
Infestation by black rats in restaurants is rare, but during the year in a restaurant situated in a
property awaiting block development, and of which the upper three floors had for some time been
derelict, infestation by black rats occurred, with a co-incidental infestation by cockroaches. Legal