Does a business have to display its hygiene rating?
It depends where you are. In Wales and Northern Ireland a food business must display its rating where you can read it before you go in. In England it is voluntary, a business there can legally show you nothing.
England: voluntary
There is no legal duty to display a food hygiene rating in England. Businesses are encouraged to, and most do, but a business is free to put the sticker in a drawer, and many with poor ratings do exactly that.
This is the single most useful thing to know about the scheme in England. The absence of a sticker is not proof of a bad rating, but it is a reason to look the place up rather than assume.
Source: Food Standards Agency, “Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: guidance for businesses”
Wales and Northern Ireland: mandatory
In both nations the law requires the rating to be displayed at or near each customer entrance, the door, the entrance, or the window, in a place where a customer can readily see and easily read it before they enter, whenever the business is open.
Display became mandatory in Wales in November 2013 and in Northern Ireland in October 2016. In Northern Ireland a business must also tell you its rating if you ask, in person or over the phone.
The effect is visible in the compliance figures: reported display runs at about 97% in Wales and Northern Ireland, against roughly 86% in England.
Source: Food Standards Agency, “Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: guidance for businesses”
Scotland: a different scheme entirely
Scotland does not use the 0-to-5 scale at all. It runs the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, under which premises receive a Pass or Improvement Required. Businesses are given a certificate or sticker to display, and separately there is an Eat Safe award for businesses that go beyond the legal minimum.
Because the two schemes measure and report different things, Food Standards Scotland is explicit that Scottish data and the rest of the UK's are not comparable. That is why nothing on this site ranks a Scottish business against an English one, or shows it a star chart it never earned.
Source: Food Standards Scotland, “Food Hygiene Information Scheme”
What to do if there is no sticker
Look it up. Every rating in the United Kingdom is published by the Food Standards Agency and by Food Standards Scotland, free, and republished here. A business cannot hide a rating that is already public, it can only decline to advertise it.
Common questions
Is it illegal not to display a food hygiene rating?
In Wales and Northern Ireland, yes, the rating must be displayed at or near each customer entrance where it can be read before entering. In England it is voluntary and there is no offence in not displaying it. Scotland runs a separate scheme.
Can a restaurant refuse to tell you its hygiene rating?
In Northern Ireland a business must tell you its rating if you ask, in person or by telephone. Elsewhere there is no such duty, but the rating is public, so you can look it up regardless.
Why do some restaurants not show a sticker?
In England, because they do not have to. It may mean a poor rating, or simply that nobody put it up. The only way to know is to check the published record.
Does Scotland use the 0 to 5 rating?
No. Scotland uses the Food Hygiene Information Scheme: Pass, or Improvement Required, with a separate Eat Safe award for higher standards. Food Standards Scotland states the Scottish data is not comparable with the 0-to-5 ratings used elsewhere in the UK.
Check a specific place
Every food business in the UK has a published rating. Look up a restaurant, takeaway, pub or shop by name, or browse every council area.
More guides
Ratings and the rules described here come from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, published under the Open Government Licence. This is general information, not legal advice, the official record for any business is held by the FSA and its local council.