A POPULAR Basingstoke fish and chip shop has been told it needs to make ‘major improvements’ to its food hygiene standards.

Winklebury Fish and Chips, in Watson Way, was visited by a food hygiene inspector who graded it as one out of five for its hygiene, meaning ‘major improvement’ is required.

However, Kevin Chui, the owner of the family-run business which has been in Winklebury since 1994, said the issues were down to paperwork.

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The 58-year-old, from Chineham, said: “This is a local business and we’ve been here for a long time. I’ve been in and out of the catering business since 2002 running buffet restaurants. The inspection is disappointing but I can only catch up with paperwork.”

Mr Chui said he has been short-staffed and has not had a chance to complete the necessary paperwork for the inspection.

The inspector said ‘major improvement’ is needed to the management of food safety, which includes having systems or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety and confidence that standards will be maintained.

The hygienic handling of food was also deemed to need improvement. This includes food preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.

The cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building were found to be ‘generally satisfactory’.

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Mr Chui, whose fish and chip shop is rated as 4.2 on Google, said he hopes the rating will not affect business.

“Internally, everything is fine,” he said, adding: “It’s the first time we’ve had such a low rating. It was a three before. But you need to dedicate a lot of time to do the paperwork.

“We get a lot of people who like us and we have a lot of repeat customers. We don’t get a lot of passing trade so people who know us and are the core of the business we wouldn’t worry too much that they won’t keep coming back.”