Chicken Cottage

Address

BASEMENT AND GROUND FLOOR 135 PRAED STREET
LONDON
W2 1RL

Business type

Restaurant/Cafe/Canteen

Date of inspection

22 August 2026

Standards found at the time of inspection
Area inspected by food safety officer	Standards found
Hygienic food handling Hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage	Improvement necessary
Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene	Improvement necessary
Management of food safety System or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future	Major improvement necessary

If you wish to see the food safety officer’s report on which this rating is based, you can request this from the local authority that carried out the inspection. You can do this by sending an email to the address below. In some cases, the local authority may decide that they cannot send you a copy of the report but will let you know this and explain why.

What the business says

While we fully respect the role of Westminster City Council in maintaining public health standards and acknowledge some of the physical/structural improvements highlighted in the report, we respectfully dispute the score awarded (Rating 1) and request a review based on the specific mitigating context surrounding the time of inspection.

Context & Mitigating Circumstances at the Time of Inspection

1. Morning Opening & Setup Period:

The officer visited during the early morning opening shift. At that specific moment, only one staff member was present on site and was actively in the process of executing opening procedures, setting up workstations, and performing initial checks.

2. Hand Wash Sink Obstruction (Schedule A, Point 5):

The sink was temporarily holding items while the lone staff member was rearranging the counter and prep area as part of the morning setup. This was not an ongoing practice or routine operation, as opening procedures were actively underway to clear and sanitize all stations before commencing food service.

3. Advance Record Filling / Falsification Claim (Schedule A, Point 15):

The staff member had prematurely filled out the opening checklist in anticipation of completing the daily tasks during their opening routine. We recognize this was a operational mistake by the staff member, but it was driven by morning setup pressure rather than an intentional attempt to falsify records. Corrective staff retraining on real-time logging was implemented immediately following the inspection.

4. Food Packaging & Storage Issues (Schedule A, Points 1, 3, 4):

The items noted (such as drinks in proximity to raw chicken and open items) were being moved/organized during stock intake and morning preparation.

Immediate Corrective Actions Taken Since Inspection

We have taken swift and comprehensive action to rectify all issues raised in the report:

Pest Control & Structure (Schedule A, Points 6, 7, 8, 9): We have coordinated directly with our pest control contractor and commenced repairs on floor/wall tiles and basement ducting/surfaces.

Hygiene & Cross-Contamination (Schedule A, Points 2, 3, 5, 10, 11, 12): All temporary cardboard coverings have been permanently removed. Storage in the walk-in fridge has been strictly reorganized (raw items strictly segregated at the bottom). All touchpoints, freezer seals, and utensils have been deep-cleaned and sanitized.

Management & SFBB Documentation (Schedule A, Points 13, 14, 15, 16): Fully updated (SFBB) documentation and daily logbooks are now active on-site. Waste oil collection receipts have been organized for submission, and staff have undergone strict retraining on real-time temperature/checklist logging.

Given that the conditions observed were heavily influenced by the timing of the visit (during single-handed opening setup) rather than representative of our standard daily operations, we kindly request to review the awarded score under the Appeal procedure.

About comments made by the business

A business has the right to reply to its local authority about the food hygiene rating given. This means a business may draw attention to improvements made since the inspection and/or explain particular circumstances at the time of inspection that might have affected the rating the business was given. The comments made by the business have been reviewed and may have been edited by a local authority food safety officer so they fit the terms and conditions of this website but the accuracy of any statements made has not been verified.