Major hotels across Liverpool city centre that hosted Eurovision fans, acts and presenters have been slapped with shocking food hygiene ratings.
In the last six weeks, five hotels across the city have been hit with damning inspection reports by officials from Liverpool Council’s environmental health department. Among those to be heavily criticised was the Hard Days Night hotel on North John Street after it was given a zero out of five mark.
As a result, the Beatles themed venue has been told improvements are needed urgently. According to information made available by the Food Standards Agency, it was deemed urgent amends were needed around the hotel’s hygienic handling of food, including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.
READ MORE: Suites Hotel suspects named and schoolboy charged after police raids
The Hard Days Night opened its doors to customers in 2008 and was sold to international hotel chain Millennium Hotels & Resorts (MHR) for £13.8m in 2015. Housed in the Grade II-listed Central Buildings, it is the only Beatles themed hotel in the world.
Inspectors raised concerns regarding the hotel’s management of food safety, around which they said there was major improvement required, following their visit on April 19. Further upgrades are also deemed necessary regarding the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building where food is served.
A spokesperson for the business blamed the failings on a utensil being mislabelled.
Environmental health teams carried out a similar inspection of the new Radisson RED venue on Lime Street. Earlier this month, the hotel played host to a number of presenters and acts taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest being held at the city’s M&S Bank Arena, after the assessments were carried out.
However, major concerns were raised around food hygiene handling and safety, with the business handed a one out of five mark and ordered to make improvements. Another Radisson venue, the Blu Hotel situated on Old Hall Street, was also hit with a one out of five mark when it was inspected last month.
Major improvements were also ordered at the Mercure Liverpool Atlantic Tower Hotel, again focused on the management of food safety. Handing down another one out of five score, inspectors said they had issues with how the hotel had systems 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.
Also inspected last month was the Ibis Hotel at Wapping, which was scored as two out of five, with improvements needed in cleanliness of the building, but food hygiene and safety standards were deemed generally acceptable. In September 2022, the Britannia Adelphi was also marked as required to make improvements to how it hygienically handles food.
A spokesperson for Radisson Hotel Group said: “The health and safety of our guests is always our top priority and we welcome regular audits to ensure safety standards are adhered to. We’re very disappointed with the rating and have taken immediate actions to address the points raised.
“Expert third party consultants have since conducted a number of robust audits and we are satisfied with the measures that have been implemented. A re-inspection has been invited and we are confident in seeing an instant return to higher scores that are reflective of our offering and our group’s high food safety standards.”
A spokesperson for Accor Hotels, which manages the Ibis and Mercure locations, said: “These are isolated cases and we are working with the hotel teams to correct the issues highlighted and ensure their improvement.”
A spokesperson for the Hard Days Night Hotel said: "‘Hard Days Night Hotel, Liverpool, prides itself on a previously gained 5-star EHO rating for Food Safety. The recent result from the EHO inspection does not reflect the standard of food hygiene in our kitchens and was in fact given due to a preparation utensil being mislabelled.
"The hotel management team has booked a retesting and we look forward to once again re-gaining the 5-star rating. The Hard Days Night Hotel team is dedicated to providing an excellent service for its hotel and restaurant guests and will continue to improve food quality standards."
The Adelphi hotel declined to comment when approached by the ECHO.
Join the Liverpool ECHO's breaking news and top headlines WhatsApp community
READ NEXT
The 'ordinary dad' who was actually rubbing shoulders with the Colombian cartel
Young mum in coma cried when dad spoke as family say she can 'hear us'
Woman arrested for drink driving at 6.15am
Pregnant mum died after 'speeding' BMW hit her on hard shoulder
M&S shoppers swoon over 'floaty' £39 dress that 'doesn't crease'
