A YORK restaurant and takeaway which scored zero in a food hygiene inspection earlier this year has bounced back following a major refurbishment, achieving three stars after a fresh inspection.

York Tandoori, in Lowther Street, The Groves, was told urgent improvements were necessary in its handling of food and the cleanliness of the facilities and building, following the earlier City of York Council inspection on January 24.

Manager Nazrul ‘Alex’ Islam told The Press then that there had been a major refurbishment since the inspection had been carried out, with everything in the kitchen brand new, and he had asked for a revisit by inspectors and he was confident it would win an improved rating.

Now a report has shown that his confidence was well placed, with the restaurant getting a food hygiene rating of three and with the council official who carried out the inspection stating: “I was pleased to see that standards had been improved since my last visit.”

Under the scale of ratings, ‘0’ indicates ‘urgent improvement necessary’ and ‘5’ means ‘very good’, while 3 means ‘generally satisfactory.’

However, the report lists further actions which the official still wanted to be carried out, including repairing a hand wash basin so it drained properly, repainting a rusty lid to a large chest freezer and ensuring that ready to eat foods are protected from cross contamination at all times.

Mr Islam told The Press he was very pleased by the significant improvement in the restaurant’s rating, which he said followed a great deal of hard work in refurbishing the kitchen.

He said the takeaway had now reopened following the completion of the works, and he was looking forward to the restaurant being able to reopen from the lockdown on May 17.

Anthony Dean, acting public protection manager at the council, said that actions identified during inspections were intended to be followed by the businesses to improve their ratings further.

“We are always pleased to see businesses working to improve their ratings and would encourage anyone wishing to work on their rating to get in touch with our team for help and guidance,” he said.