Rumblings of Discontent.
There are rumblings of discontent amongst restaurateurs in the East Anglian county of Norfolk. The city fathers in Norwich have decided to publicise the scores given to their City’s restaurants as awarded during the last Environmental Health Officer’s visit.
So depending on how well the restaurant is operated from a food standard/hygiene perspective during the last visit from an EHO will determine how many stars that restaurant scores. This information is then published on the Council’s website where everyone and anyone can see and compare if they wish
Most restaurants, unless they scored very highly, don’t see the requirement for this approach from the Council and have mentioned consistency of inspection, delays between inspections, and simple comparisons without being able to read full reports being valueless, as reasons why not to list the chart of scores.
Health
Officers of course think differently saying that the public is entitled to know
what to expect when they visits a restaurant. In as much as league tables are
becoming accepted in all types of public services from Schools to Councils I
suspect the scores on the doors will be around for a while.
..We believe that a 'scores on the doors' scheme could greatly assist consumers in choosing where to eat.
Some months ago I wrote an article (linked at the bottom of this page) about ‘scores on the doors’ which is what this proposal has become known. It emanates from the good old US of A in California to be precise where Health Officers used it as a weapon to get restaurants to smarten up their hygiene act. In the US they do actually require the restaurant to exhibit the score they receive outside the building with severe penalties if they do not.
Those of you visiting the Norwich City Council’s website to view the list of restaurant will notice that it is not only ‘public restaurants’ that are listed but also works/office facilities as well. Norwich incidentally is not the only Council to publish these scores with Camden, Greenwich and some in Councils in Scotland already doing so.
How long I wonder before they get around to simple B&B’s?