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The London Count CounciL(General Powers) Act, 1908 (Section 8), contains
sections intended to regulate premises used for the sale, etc., of food for human
consumption, to the following effect:—
8.—(1)—From and after the passing of this Act the following provisions shall apply to
any room, shop or other part of a building within the County in which any article whether
solid or liquid intended or adapted for the food of man is sold or exposed for sale or deposited
for the purpose of sale or of preparation for sale or with a view to future sale:
(a) no urinal water closet, earth closet, privy, ashpit or other like sanitary convenience
shall be within such room, shop or other part of a building or shall communicate
therewith except through the open air or through an intervening ventilated space;
(b) no cistern for supplying water to such room, shop or other part of a building shall
be in direct communication with or directly discharge into any such sanitary convenience;
(c) no drain or pipe for carrying off faecal or sewage matter shall have any inlet or opening
within such room, shop or other part of a building;
(d) no such room, shop or other part of a building shall be used as a sleeping place
and so far as may be reasonably necessary to prevent risk of infection or contamination
of any such article as aforesaid no sleeping place shall adjoin such room, shop
or other part of a building and communicate therewith except through the open air
or through an intervening ventilated space;
(f) refuse or filth whether solid or liquid shall not be deposited or allowed to accumulate
in any such room, shop or other part of a building except so far as may be reasonably
necessary for the proper carrying on of trade or business;
(/) Due cleanliness shall be observed in regard to such room, shop or other part of a
building and all articles apparatus and utensils therein and shall be observed by
persons engaged in such room, shop or other part of a building;
(2) If any person occupies or lets or knowingly suffers to be occupied any such room,
shop, or other part of a building wherein any of the conditions prohibited by this section
exist or does or knowingly permits any act or thing therein in contravention of this section
he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding for a first offence twenty
shillings and for every subsequent offence five pounds and in either case to a daily penalty
not exceeding twenty shillings.
The business of a vendor of fried fish is separately legislated for and bye-laws
controlling this trade are operative in the City.
The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, Section 2, specifies defects, e.g., want
of cleanliness, ventilation and overcrowding, occurring in workplaces which may
be dealt with as Nuisances, and Section 25 gives power to the Medical Officer of
Health and the Sanitary Inspector to certify where cleansing or limewashing is
necessary. Section 38 requires separate, suitable, and sufficient water closet
accommodation to be provided.
The Sections of the Acts, &c., quoted appear to represent the powers available
in respect of workplaces and, therefore, of restaurant kitchens.
The greatest difficulty experienced in the City, in connection with statutory
requirements, is in respect of Section 8 (c) of the 1908 Act. Presumably a gully,
although it is effectively trapped, must be regarded as a drain opening. This
deficiency exists in many of the places which existed prior to the passing of the
Act, and if it is to be regarded as preventing the use of a room as a kitchen, very
many of these places would cease to exist. A drain inlet cannot be removed from
a basement kitchen unless an open area exists in which the gulley can be placed.
Such an open area is a rare circumstance in the City and the alternative is to require
an upper floor to be used for the purpose and to take the discharge pipe into the
basement where a sealed gully can be provided. This is an altogether impracticable
requirement in the majority of cases, though the necessity can be pointed out to
those who propose opening a new restaurant with a basement kitchen attached.
As a consequence of these difficulties it has been the practice in the past not to
close kitchens presenting circumstances such as those outlined above, but to require
the provision of the best known appliance for use as a trap, and to endeavour to
ensure that the defect is minimised by frequent visitation.