How to check a restaurant's food hygiene rating

Search the business by name in the box at the top of this site. You will get its current rating, the date of the inspection that set it, how it compares to every other place its council rates, and, where the business has replied, what it said. If two places share a name, the address tells them apart.

The same data is published by the Food Standards Agency for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by Food Standards Scotland north of the border. We read directly from that official data every night, so what you see here matches the record the council holds.

The rating is the headline, but three things around it change what it means. The date: a 5 from three years ago is a weaker signal than a 5 from last month, because inspections happen anywhere from every six months to every two years. Which of the three areas scored low, food handling, the premises, or confidence in management, because they are different kinds of problem. And any right to reply, where the business explains what has changed.

Delivery apps show a hygiene rating for many listings, but not always, and not always the current one. Because a takeaway you never physically visit is exactly the kind of place a rating is most useful for, it is worth a ten-second check by name here before you order. A kitchen you cannot see is one where the inspector's visit is the only window you have.

Most, but not every, food business appears. A very new business may not have been inspected yet, and until it is it has no rating to publish, not a bad sign in itself. Some premises are exempt, and childminders and certain low-risk operations are handled differently. If you cannot find a place that should be there, checking the exact registered name and town usually solves it.