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and in premises which are too small to provide for all the necessary ancilliary services such as
adequate food storage and staff amenities. Experience has shown that once a restaurant becomes
established it is extremely difficult to remedy deficiencies of planning and design.
It is of interest to note that in the case of the legal proceedings mentioned earlier this
was one of the premises where strenuous efforts were made to deter the proprietor from trying to
establish a business under such adverse conditions. Even the minimum standards he achieved in
the beginning could not be maintained and the legal proceedings were the inevitable result.
Continuous attention has been paid to the provisions of the Offices, Shops and Railway
Premises Act, 1963 and a special effort has been made to improve necessary staff amenities such
as sanitary accommodation, washing facilities and changing rooms.
The predominant function of most City restaurants is to provide cheap meals for vast numbers
of City workers but during the year an additional top grade restaurant has opened and another
is approaching completion. In this latest venture it is intended to open in the evening as well as
at lunch time and entertainment, music and dancing will be provided. Application has been made
for a late night licence which would enable this restaurant to remain open until 2.30 a.m. Recently
preliminary discussions have taken place regarding yet another similar development in
one of the new large office blocks so it would seem that soon, the City in the evening, as well
as at lunch time, will be able to offer facilities comparable with the best in the West End.
CATERING ESTABLISHMENTS
Before establishing a catering business, application is made for planning approval and
applications are referred by the City Architect to the Medical Officer of Health, with a view to
advising the developers on whether the premises will be suitable from a public health aspect.
Although this is purely an advisory service, it is useful to both caterers and the Health
Department, in that future difficulties can be avoided by co-operative effort.
During the year, fifty-two intending caterers obtained the advice of this Department before
deciding to proceed with their ventures.
FOOD AND DRUGS ACT, 1955
Samples purchased by the Sampling Officer during the year constituted a representative cross
section of all articles of food in regular use. Of the 356 samples purchased, only 4 or 1.1% were
the subject of an adverse report by the Public Analyst.
Particular attention was paid to the purchase of made-up foods such as minced fresh meat,
pies of all description, sausages and other meat products. Samples of these particular commodities
were purchased on Monday mornings as most of the retail food premises in the City are
closed on Saturday morning and it was felt that by purchasing these types of food at the beginning
of the week, an examination by the Public Analyst would indicate whether or not stocks
were in a fresh condition. A sample of Scotch Egg was adversely reported on by the Public
Analyst, his report indicating that the commodity had a sour, stale smell and was unpalatable,
but generally it was found that perishable foods offered for sale at the beginning of the week
were fresh and in good condition.
Of formal samples of hot milk purchased from restaurants in the City area, two were reported
on adversely by the Public Analyst, his report indicating the presence of added water. On investigation
it was found that in both cases the milk in question had been heated by steam injection.
On being informed of the Analyst's adverse report, one restaurant proprietor ceased selling hot
milk and the other agreed not to use the steam injector but to heat the milk in a pan over a gas
ring. All the remaining formal samples of milk were satisfactory.
There were several minor infringements of the Labelling of Food Order but these irregularities
were resolved after consultation with the firms concerned.
As usual, a number of complaints were investigated from members of the public regarding
various articles of food purchased from retail shops or restaurants within the City. One such
complaint referred to sausage rolls which were bought at a City restaurant and found to be
mouldy. Legal proceedings were instituted against the catering firm but because of their excellent
record they were given an absolute discharge and merely ordered to pay £10.10s.0d. costs.
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