WHSmith food hygiene ratings
There are 239 WHSmith 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. 13 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 WHSmith scores
96% of rated WHSmith branches hold the top score of 5, and 100% hold a 4 or better. The chain averages 4.95 out of 5, a strikingly consistent record, well above the roughly 70% of all UK food businesses that manage a 5.
| 5 out of 5 | 179 | 96% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 out of 5 | 7 | 4% | |
| 3 out of 5 | 0 | 0% | |
| 2 out of 5 | 1 | 1% | |
| 1 out of 5 | 0 | 0% | |
| 0 out of 5 | 0 | 0% |
A further 52 branches are awaiting inspection, exempt, or in Scotland, none of which sit on the 0–5 scale.
Lowest-rated WHSmith branches
1 branch holds a rating of 2 or below. That is 1% of WHSmith'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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WH Smith BS1 6QG | Bristol | 2 - Some improvement necessary | 8 February 2026 |
Questions about WHSmith
What is WHSmith's food hygiene rating?
WHSmith does not have a single rating. Every one of its 239 UK sites is inspected and rated separately by its own local council. 96% of them hold the top score of 5, and the chain averages 4.95 out of 5.
Is WHSmith clean?
By the only measure a regulator publishes, 96% of WHSmith branches were found to have very good hygiene standards at their last inspection. But a rating describes a branch, not a brand, and 1 branches score 2 or below.
Which WHSmith has the worst hygiene rating?
The lowest-rated branches are listed on this page, worst first. 1 hold a rating of 2 or below out of 187 rated sites.
Who inspects WHSmith?
Not WHSmith. 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 WHSmith branches.
Hillingdon, Solihull, Camden, Manchester, City of London Corporation, Birmingham, Westminster, Wakefield
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 WHSmith.