A filthy Chinese takeaway where inspectors found rat droppings and a dead rat has been shut down.

Hong Kong, on the corner of Uppingham Road and Coleman Road in Humberstone, Leicester, received a surprise visit from Leicester City Council health inspectors after a customer tipped them off that rats had been seen in the premises.

Moments into their look around the building inspectors, Elizabeth Johnson and Judy O’Gormley, saw there was “no effective cleaning” in the premises at all.

By the end of their inspection, on Wednesday evening, they had about 100 photographs of filth inside the takeaway which was shut down immediately.

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Friday their decision was backed by magistrates who ordered the owner, Jian Xin, to pay £1,243 in costs to Leicester City Council.

During the hearing Ms Johnson told the magistrates the takeaway was one of the worst she had ever seen during a career of more than 20 years.

She said: “The visit was in response to a complaint that alleged rat activity and the unhygienic handling of food.

“We went through into the kitchen and very quickly it was apparent standards were really poor.

“Just walking through I could feel the grease and slipperiness on the floor and there was grime and grubbiness.

“My colleague pulled a chest freezer forward and could clearly see rat droppings behind it.”

Inside filthy Chinese takeaway in Leicester View gallery

She said more rat droppings were found throughout the premises and she could recognise the “rodent odour” in one of the store rooms.

Decaying food was also found throughout the kitchen and storeroom, as well as a rotting rat carcass in a trap with a number of ants nearby.

In a food preparation room frozen raw chicken and pork had been piled in a sink to defrost.

The kitchen hand washing basin had no soap or paper towels and neither did the sink in the toilet.

Ms O’Gormley looked outside and found a damaged manhole cover that the rats seemed to have been using to travel between the sewers and the restaurant.

The revolting things inspectors found (Image: Leicester City Council Environmental Health) Greasy and slippy floor in the kitchen

Rat droppings behind chest freezer

"Rodent odour" in a store room

Decaying food in kitchen and store room

Dead rat in a trap surrounded by ants

Raw chicken and pork defrosting together in a sink

No soap in kitchen or toilet

Ms Johnson said: “Rats are known to carry about 40 different diseases like salmonella, Weil’s disease and listeria.

"Those powerful pathogens are in rodent urine and droppings. As they run over the surfaces they can leave contamination.

“They will climb looking for food so you can never be sure where the rats have been.”

She said the restaurant had no contract with a pest control company, which most restaurants do.

She added: “We were very concerned no one was washing their hands.

“All these observations led to a swift conclusion the premises presented an imminent risk to health.

“It is one of the worst in my 20 years in environmental health.”

Show more

The restaurant was contacted again before Friday’s court hearing but the owner, who was not at court, informed the city council the cleaning was not complete and that a builder had not be found to fix the hole to the sewers.

Restaurant bosses were given a list of tasks that will need to be completed before it can open again.