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Food hygiene

Food hygiene in St Albans by area

In the last month 43 food places across St Albans were given a hygiene score, and 100% of them got the top mark of 5. Over three months, 4 places scored 2 or below, and 59 food places are waiting for their first inspection.

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43hygiene scoreslast 31 days
100%scored 543 places, last 31 days
4scored 0 to 2last 3 months
59waiting for a first inspectionusually new or under new owners

Darker means more hygiene scores published. Tap an area for its page.

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Most inspected this month: St Albans (14), Harpenden (5) and Cottonmill (4). The middle St Albans area had 2. Over three months, the highest share of 5s among areas with at least five scores was in Harpenden (80%), How Wood (80%) and St Julians (80%).

Every area, ranked

1St AlbansAL1145068%312
2HarpendenAL552580%14
3CottonmillAL14967%10
4FleetvilleAL131050%15
5SopwellAL13667%00
6St JuliansAL13580%00
7London ColneyAL234100%00
8Bernards HeathAL32978%01
9The CampAL12667%03
10St StephensAL12580%00
11Bricket WoodAL224100%00
12Jersey FarmAL42475%00
13MarshalswickAL42475%00
14TownsendAL32367%01
15SouthdownAL51667%01
16How WoodAL21580%00
17RedbournAL312–00
18WheathampsteadAL411–00
19Chiswell GreenAL20367%00
20Colney HeathAL403100%02
21FrogmoreAL202–00
22New GreensAL301–00
23Park StreetAL201–00

“Last month” and “3 months” count the hygiene scores published within each area’s circle. “Scored 5” is the share of the last three months’ scores that were a 5; it needs at least three. “Waiting” is food places registered but not yet inspected. Areas overlap, so one place can count in more than one. Tap a column to sort.

Scored 0 to 2 in the last three months

A score shows how things were on the day of the inspection. Businesses can appeal, and can ask for a new inspection once they have made improvements, so check the Food Standards Agency’s page for the latest.

Top marks this month

43 places scored 5 in the last 31 days; the latest 20 are shown.

New food places

59 food places across St Albans are registered with their council and waiting for a first hygiene inspection, the most near St Albans (12), Fleetville (5), Harpenden (4), The Camp (3) and Colney Heath (2). They are usually new businesses or ones under new owners, and each area’s page lists them.

By kind of business

Restaurants and cafés5969%2
Pubs, bars and clubs2387%0
Takeaways and sandwich shops2365%1
Care homes and nurseries2176%0
Shops1839%1
Schools and colleges11100%0
Supermarkets8100%0
Other caterers6100%0
Hotels and B&Bs2–0
Mobile caterers1–0

St Albans, last three months. The share scoring 5 needs at least three scores.

How food hygiene ratings work

Every place that serves, sells or makes food is inspected by its council’s food safety officers, and the Food Standards Agency publishes the score. Officers look at how food is handled and stored, the state of the building and its cleaning, and how the business manages food safety. The score runs from 0 to 5:

  • 5: very good
  • 4: good
  • 3: generally satisfactory
  • 2: improvement necessary
  • 1: major improvement necessary
  • 0: urgent improvement necessary

How often a place is inspected depends on the risk, so a busy kitchen is visited more often than a shop selling packaged food. New businesses wait for a first visit before they get a score.

Where the figures come from

Scores come from the Food Standards Agency’s food hygiene rating data, published under the Open Government Licence, for every council we cover. Figures for St Albans as a whole count the food places whose nearest area is in St Albans. Each area is a circle round its middle, the same as on its MeBabber page. A score appears here when the agency publishes it, which can be a few weeks after the inspection.

See our sources and their licences. Figures update every night.

Food hygiene in every area

Questions people ask

Which areas of St Albans had the most food hygiene inspections?

Over the last month, the most hygiene scores were published for St Albans (14), Harpenden (5), Cottonmill (4), Fleetville (3) and Sopwell (3). The middle St Albans area had 2.

How many St Albans food places score 5 for hygiene?

Of the 172 food places in St Albans given a score in the last three months, 127 (74%) got the top mark of 5, meaning hygiene is very good.

Have any St Albans food places scored 0, 1 or 2 recently?

Yes. In the last three months 4 places in St Albans were given 2 or below: 0 scored 0, 1 scored 1 and 3 scored 2. Each is listed on this page with its date. A low score shows how things were on the day of the inspection.

What do food hygiene ratings mean?

Food Standards Agency scores run from 0 to 5: 5 is very good, 4 good, 3 generally satisfactory, 2 improvement necessary, 1 major improvement necessary and 0 urgent improvement necessary. Council officers give the score after an inspection of hygiene, the building and how food safety is managed.