DELAYS to the construction of the Westgate Centre have been blamed for a noodle bar failing to reach the top hygiene standards.

Neds Noodle Bar scored a three star rating when Oxford City Council environmental health officers visited in November – less than a month after the Westgate Centre opened.

Inspectors found accumulations of grease and oil in the storage unit and food debris had also gathered beneath equipment.

Some foods, including a vegetable dish, were also being kept at the wrong temperatures.

The restaurant’s general manager, Thomas Szabo, said delays, which saw the Westgate Social area only handed over to individual restaurants on the centre’s opening day gave them a ‘very hard time.’

Ned's Noodles' neighbour Benito’s Hat also scored two stars at an initial inspection shortly after moving in.

Mr Szabo added that all the identified problems had now been resolved and a revisit would take place in March.

The city council inspectors said: “Accumulations of food debris was evident on the floor surfaces beneath equipment.

“Ensure that these areas are cleaned more frequently.

“Accumulations of grease and oil was evident on the floor and surfaces of the storage unit containing the grease trap.”

Mr Szabo said that the grease trap was ‘far away’ from the food handling zone and that the equipment has been fixed.

The restaurant was rated ‘fair’ when it came to both food hygiene and and safety and structural compliance when visited on November 20 but given a number of improvements to ‘immediately make’.

General manager Thomas Szabo said: “Unfortunately the site hand over for Social in the Westgate Centre was delayed until the opening day – this delay caused us and all contractors a very hard time.

“Many of the issues had been actioned with an immediate effect and the inspector appreciated this – we worked very hard to sort out all the issues which were brought to our attention.

“All problems were dealt with in a couple of weeks and we are awaiting a revisit at the beginning of March.

“We take food hygiene and customers very seriously, we only serve fresh food in a clean environment with a friendly manner.”

Inspectors were also concerned there was no pest control contract in place.

Ned’s Noodle Bar said the responsibility over pest controlling was ‘not clearly communicated with us’ and that the Westgate Social quarter had a pest control unit in place.

It said Westgate Oxford has since agreed all individual units must have a separate pest control contract, which Ned’s Noodle Bar now has in place.