Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellan’s landmark pub in London has had its hygiene score drop to one star.
News of this comes just months after the pub’s ratings dropped by two stars, down from five, after inspectors discovered out-of-date food and a fridge operating at 16C.
The Grapes, an idyllic pub situated on the Thames, in Limehouse, East London, was recently re-inspected, finding that ‘major improvement’ is ‘needed’ at the boozer.
The pub was also rapped about a range of non-elfish practices related to food handling in the kitchen.
Municipalities regularly inspect eateries, and those deemed the highest risk are surveyed every six months.
In the photo: Ian McKellen. Sir Ian has co-owned The Grapes since 2011 along with his former partner and film director Sean Mathias and businessman Evgeny Lebedev
Pictured: Ian McKellen at The Grapes. Sean Mathias, co-owner, spoke to MailOnline and apologized to the public and customers for the one-star rating, saying: ‘We are very sorry about what happened, and we hate letting our customers down. have left’
Sir Ian McKellen’s pub’s food hygiene rating has dropped to one star following a re-inspection of the pub on March 23
The 83-year-old actor – who played Gandalf in Lord of the Rings – is part owner of The Grapes boozer.
It was previously inspected by senior councilors last October, where it went from five stars to three after out-of-date food was found.
A report shows that a series of problems were found, which caused the pub to lose its top rating.
The report said that “many” foods in the working fridge were past their best-before dates, including noodles that were 19 days past their expiration date, chicken curry and salmon, both 12 days past their expiration date, and spiced tomatoes, which were 10 days past their expiration date.
The report added, “You should check the refrigerators daily and all out-of-date foods should be thrown away.”
Municipalities regularly inspect and score eateries, with those deemed to be at highest risk reviewed every six months, while those deemed not to be at risk will be reviewed every five years.
A re-inspection of the pub was carried out by Tower Hamlets Council on 23 March and registered by the Food Standard Agency.
After the visit, the pub’s rating has been reduced to just one star.
The food safety officer concluded that a ‘major improvement’ was needed for the ‘control of food safety’.
They also felt that ‘improvement’ was ‘necessary’ for ‘handling food hygienically’.
However, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building was considered ‘good’.
The Grapes is a Grade II listed pub in Limehouse, East London, dating back nearly 500 years
The report concludes: ‘System or controls in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff are aware of food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in the future will be maintained.
‘Cleanliness and condition of facilities and premises, including appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control, to enable good food hygiene.
‘Hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, heating, cooling and storage.’
Sir Ian has been co-owner of The Grapes since 2011. He co-owns it with his former partner and film director Sean Mathias and businessman Evgeny Lebedev.
Sean Mathias, co-owner of The Grapes, spoke to MailOnline about the one-star rating.
When apologizing to the public and customers, Mr Mathais said: ‘We are very sorry for what happened and we hate that we let our customers down.
“We were scored by technicalities.
“When we scored from five to three last year, we were shocked. And now when it went from a three to a one, we were shocked and failed on technical points. And that’s our fault.
“We are shocked because we have a great reputation, and we don’t want this to reflect on Ian as he has a great reputation and has done so much for the community and the pub.
“But in a few days we hope to get a higher rank again because we are being inspected again.”
He added: ‘We’ve been at this location for 12 years so it’s horrible for us, we’re miserable about what happened and we’re very sorry.
“We are here to serve the public and you want to give the public the best. The pub is so great – we survived the pandemic and we fought. We did take out a loan to keep our heads above water, but we kept our heads above water.
“And we don’t want the reputation of the pub damaged – we want to uphold that reputation.”