The owners of a Yateley restaurant have been fined thousands of pounds after failing to heed a string of warnings from environmental health officers.

Kismet Restaurant (Yateley) Limited was fined £5,500 after owners of the Reading Road eatery failed to carry out a list of changes recommended by Hart District Council environmental health officers who visited the Indian restaurant seven times between December 2007 and August 2008.

The court heard that  11 breaches of Food Hygiene Regulations 2006 were initially denied by the restaurant at a hearing at Aldershot Magi-strates court on September 24.

But the charges were admitted when the case was brought back before the town’s magistrates on Tuesday November 4.

Prosecuting, Alice Missions said Hart environmental health officers Nick Steevens and Jason Hedge detected the breaches during an inspection carried out at the premises on December 11 last year.

She said the officers noted a failure to keep the restaurant clean and dirt and debris in areas, including behind the freeze,r and on hand contact points, including door handles.

The cellar back door was left open and when it was closed there was a gap large enough for rodents to get under, the court heard.

Magistrates were told how the cellar was in need of redecoration and food was being prepared on top of chest freezers, which were stored in the cellar and in a poor condition.

For more on this story, see this week’s Yateley Mail, out on Tuesday, November 25.