Eagle landed with flock of fines

The owners of popular Cambridge pub ‘The Eagle’ have been hauled into court over poor hygiene standards. Brewery bigwigs Greene King, who manage the Bene’t Street favourite, have been slapped […]

boozer eagle pub

The owners of popular Cambridge pub ‘The Eagle’ have been hauled into court over poor hygiene standards.

Brewery bigwigs Greene King, who manage the Bene’t Street favourite, have been slapped with a shocking list of FIFTEEN charges.
 
Reps for the firm have been fined a total of £37,000 for the shocking findings, after Greene King pled guilty to five of the most serious charges.
 
The full list of offences includes:
  • Failing to provide soap in customer toilets
  • Allowing flies to swarm the kitchens by not fitting windows with insect screens
  • Not disinfecting equipment used for food-preparation

  • Storing raw meat in unhygienic conditions

  • Leaving cooked sausages to fester at room temperature for TWO HOURS
The charges follow two separate visits by the Cambridge Council in May 2008.
 
Inspectors were first alerted to the grim state of affairs by students complaining of food poisoning after eating at ‘The Eagle’.
 
The food poisoning was later shown to be unrelated, but Prosecutor Barry Berlin told the court yesterday that food found at the pub was “rancid, discoloured and UNFIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION”.
 
A second inspection less than two weeks later found filthy fridges and mucky microwaves “encrusted” with food debris.
 
Representatives for Greene King, who own over 1200 pubs nationwide, said that inspectors had no qualms with ‘The Eagle’ when they visited just two months earlier.
 
Spokesman Simon Antrobus expressed his regret at the “extremely unsatisfactory” situation.
 
‘The Eagle’ was opened as an inn 400 years ago and this scandal is not the first time it has hit the headlines.
 
In 1953, Watson and Crick announced their discovery of the structure of DNA to startled diners in the pub. This is commemorated on a blue plaque next to the entrance.  
 
Thousands of students and tourists visit the pub annually.
 
Let’s hope this case leaves kitchen staff eagle-eyed about hygiene in the future.