Dead pigeon Swansea restaurant owner fined £25,000

Update April 2017: Story updated to clarify the ownership of the restaurant.

A restaurant owner has been fined £25,000 after health inspectors found a decomposing pigeon in the kitchen and an infestation of cockroaches.

Officers visited the premises in Swansea on 5 September 2016 after a customer called to say they had seen a cockroach on the dessert counter the day before.

Fea Moss Limited pleaded guilty at Swansea Magistrates' Court to six food hygiene offences in a prosecution brought by Swansea Council.

The court heard Yanrui Yi, director of Fea Moss, had taken over the former Cosmo premises in Castle Street the month before, refurbished the restaurant and re-opened it as Nines Global Buffet.

Zero rating

But it was given a zero food hygiene rating following a routine inspection on 18 November, which it still holds.

A month later, two improvement notices were served on the business in relation to the lack of food hygiene training and the lack of a food safety management system following a re-visit.

Magistrates fined the company £10,500 for an offence relating to the pigeon and £10,500 for an offence relating to the cockroach infestation.

Fines of £1,000 were issued for four other offences and the company was also ordered to pay £2,022 in costs and surcharges.

Ann Rodway, of Swansea council's food and safety division, said: "We are pleased with the outcome of this latest case and I'm certain consumers will be reassured by the work we are doing to safeguard their health and wellbeing when choosing to eat out."