MEDIUM-RARE burgers, staff wearing jewellery and dirty walls, fridges and cooking equipment have handed an Abingdon pub a zero hygiene rating.

The Spread Eagle in Abingdon has joined four other food businesses in the county with the lowest possible rating after inspectors visited in March.

Vale of White Horse District Council officers slammed the pub, which serves a large selection of hot dishes and pub classics, and demanded a thorough clean of the premises was carried out.

The report read: “Thoroughly clean and where necessary disinfect / sanitise the floor, the walls, fridges, cooking equipment and all equipment in general and the wash hand basins.

“Review your food dating system to ensure high-risk food is dated and used within the relevant date.”

The council officers also took issue with the serving of rare burgers without notifying the local authority.

In September 2015, the Food Standards Agency changed its policy to make it compulsory for restaurants to present councils with a food safety management plan if it wanted to serve rare burgers.

The inspectors said: “Do not serve medium-to-rare burgers unless you verify this process and get permission from the council.

They added: “Ensure staff follow adequate hand washing techniques and obtain and use a recommended sanitiser.

“Also ensure all food handlers are trained commensurate with their food handling activities and ensure food handlers don’t wear jewellery except plain rings.”

It scored ‘Bad’ in both the Food Hygiene and Safety and Structural Compliance categories of the inspection and officers said they had ‘Little’ confidence in management.

The pub was also told to make most of the improvements ‘ASAP’,

Nic and Tina Crawford. licensees for ten years at the pub, insisted their burgers are fully cooked, and that 'medium' had been taken off the menu 'a few years ago'.

The pair said they were not made aware their food hygiene manual was out of date also disagreed with inspectors over staff jewellery, and said no staff members directly involved in food production wore any items, other than a chef wearing a 'Held for Heroes' band.

A raft of changes have now been made at the pub, including a new kitchen area, with the licensees saying the council is 'very happy' with the new measures and that a re-score has been requested in the next six weeks.