A PUB hit with the lowest hygiene rating has bounced back and hopes business will now pick up again.

The Spread Eagle, in Abingdon, was handed a zero star food hygiene rating in March, but was this week awarded four stars after building a new food preparation room.

Owner Nic Crawford said the Vale of White Horse District Council health inspectors had been 'hard' on his pub and called on the council to make it clearer what they expected from businesses.

Medium-rare burgers, which Mr Crawford said the pub didn't serve, and an 'out-of-date' paperwork system that subsequent inspectors had no problem with, were blamed for the initial score.

Inspectors also ordered a 'thorough clean' to take place and warned staff not to wear jewellery.

Mr Crawford said: "Some people have believed the score and it has hurt our business, I had to get rid of some staff.

"We had bookings of six for example, and then they will phone up and say one of the group has seen the rating and is no longer coming."

"We are pleased with the four rating – we did some work that we had originally planned for September, a separate room for preparing and storing fresh meat.

"The council didn't ask us to build it, we have gone above and beyond – we wanted to prove our standards were not what they said they were."

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 they wanted to serve rare burgers.

Mr Crawford said that despite being rapped over cooking medium-rare burgers without notifying the council the pub had not served a single medium-rare burger since the law change.

The owner advised district council health inspectors to 'get their stories straight' on what they wanted from businesses.

He said: "They were a bit hard on us, they came along at 7.40pm on a busy night and I think they need to be clearer with what they expect from businesses.

"The first set of inspectors ordered us to use air-tight containers for our food, most pubs use ice cream tubs with cling film.

"I couldn't find a single piece of legislation or regulation saying that and when a second set of inspectors visited, they said we didn't need to have them.

"By that point I had spent £1,000 on them."

Mr Crawford said that the second set of inspectors were also satisfied with the original paperwork system used.