INSPECTORS slapped a town centre takeaway with the worst possible food hygiene rating after they found mice had gnawed through a sack of batter mix and discovered droppings on food lids.

Officers from the Food Standards Agency had to throw out the sack of ‘Allgold’ batter mix — which they suspected was contaminated by the rodents — when they visited Mr Fry’s in December.

Mice droppings were found throughout the takeaway on Newport Street, including on the plastic lids used for hot drinks, peas and curry, behind paper food wrapping used for fish and chips and in contact with sacks of potatoes in the cellar.

Rodent faeces were also discovered in the dining area, on the counter, in the washing up area and behind the refrigerators and freezers.

The agency gave the takeaway a ‘0’ food hygiene rating — the worst possible out of five — and demanded urgent improvement.

The business closed in February and is now under new ownership as Chip-A-Latte.

Cllr Nick Peel, the member in charge of environmental services at Bolton Council, said the council would ‘start from scratch’ with the new business owner in future inspections.

He said: “When there is a new owner of a previously poor premises, it would be unfair to not start again.

“There’s different levels and amounts of inspections for different premises. If a food outlet has a history of good standards, it is a light touch inspection and we do concentrate on multiple visits for those eateries that have been flagged up in the past.

“The onus is on the owner to make sure standards improve.”

A shop assistant at Chip-A-Latte, who asked not to be named, said the new owners have done a lot of work to improve the takeaway.

She said: “The manager has worked extremely hard – he has done so much.

“He has got pest control in, there is new tables, knives and forks, cutlery, a new shop front and he has changed the names.

“He has worked so hard. It is a lot better.”

The Bolton News could not reach the owners of Mr Fry’s for comments.