Spar food hygiene ratings
There are 1,269 Spar sites in the United Kingdom with a published food hygiene rating. Each is inspected by its own local council, the chain does not rate itself, and a rating earned in one town says nothing about the branch in the next. 202 sites are in Scotland, which uses a pass-or-improve scheme rather than a score out of five, and so are not counted in the figures below.
How Spar scores
77% of rated Spar branches hold the top score of 5, and 93% hold a 4 or better. The chain averages 4.65 out of 5, comfortably ahead of the roughly 70% of all UK food businesses that hold a 5.
| 5 out of 5 | 787 | 77% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 out of 5 | 165 | 16% | |
| 3 out of 5 | 43 | 4% | |
| 2 out of 5 | 17 | 2% | |
| 1 out of 5 | 11 | 1% | |
| 0 out of 5 | 2 | <1% |
A further 244 branches are awaiting inspection, exempt, or in Scotland, none of which sit on the 0–5 scale.
Lowest-rated Spar branches
30 branches hold a rating of 2 or below, including 2 rated 0. That is 3% of Spar's rated sites. A low rating is not a closure order, the business is required to fix what the inspector found.
Tap a column heading to sort.
| Branch | Council | Rating | Inspected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spar Essar L8 6UD | Liverpool | 0 - Urgent improvement necessary | 29 April 2026 |
| Spar B15 1LA | Birmingham | 0 - Urgent improvement necessary | 22 January 2026 |
| SPAR - Uppal Timperley WA14 5AB | Trafford | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 8 July 2026 |
| Spar Shop and Butchery S32 3XH | Derbyshire Dales | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 28 April 2026 |
| Spar BB1 2HR | Blackburn | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 13 February 2026 |
| Spar (Akira Store ltd) DN18 5LR | North Lincolnshire | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 4 February 2026 |
| Spar Shop LA9 6EU | Westmorland and Furness | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 28 January 2026 |
| Spar Tywyn LL36 9AD | Gwynedd | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 15 January 2026 |
| Spar, Bar Stores TR11 4BN | Cornwall | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 13 October 2025 |
| Spar SS15 5HL | Basildon | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 24 September 2025 |
| Spar Baglan SA12 8EB | Neath Port Talbot | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 10 February 2025 |
| Spar NG32 3DR | South Kesteven | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 28 January 2025 |
| Spar SS8 0JD | Castle Point | 1 - Major improvement necessary | 11 April 2024 |
| Spar Culmore, Point Road BT48 8JH | Derry City and Strabane | 2 - Some improvement necessary | 29 July 2026 |
| Spar Abingdon OX14 5BB | Vale of White Horse | 2 - Some improvement necessary | 8 July 2026 |
Questions about Spar
What is Spar's food hygiene rating?
Spar does not have a single rating. Every one of its 1,269 UK sites is inspected and rated separately by its own local council. 77% of them hold the top score of 5, and the chain averages 4.65 out of 5.
Is Spar clean?
By the only measure a regulator publishes, 77% of Spar branches were found to have very good hygiene standards at their last inspection. But a rating describes a branch, not a brand, and 30 branches score 2 or below.
Which Spar has the worst hygiene rating?
The lowest-rated branches are listed on this page, worst first. 30 hold a rating of 2 or below out of 1,025 rated sites.
Who inspects Spar?
Not Spar. Environmental health officers at each site's local council carry out the inspection, unannounced, and set the rating. The Food Standards Agency publishes the result. A chain cannot rate itself, and cannot change a rating.
Where the branches are
The councils inspecting the most Spar branches.
Cornwall, Belfast City, Highland, Gwynedd, Dorset, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cumberland, Fife
Other chains
Data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland under the Open Government Licence. Branches are identified from the business names councils publish; one trading under an unusual name may not be counted here. This site is not affiliated with Spar.