Nottingham is better than any other large city in the UK for food hygiene according to a new report.

Researchers, who compiled the list, said the city appeared to be "taking food hygiene seriously."

Nottingham beat Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds, London, Sheffield, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool and other cities with more than 1,000 businesses.

Overall, in the league table of the best and worst cities in the UK, Nottingham came 18th out of 68, faring better than Derby, which came 23rd and Leicester, trailing in 54th place.

The city, which has 1,066 pub, cafes, bars, restaurants and takeaways, had an average score of 4.54, based on the 0 to 5 scores published by the Food Standards Agency.

More than 80 businesses in the city have a food hygiene rating of 0 or less. Earlier this year the Taj Lounge, in West Bridgford, was fined almost £6,000 after the kitchen was infested with rats and left in filthy conditions. However, the restaurant has cleaned up its act, going from a zero to 3 stars.

At the other end of the scale businesses with a 5 score include fine dining restaurant Hart's, in Standard Hill, the Bell Inn, in Angel Row, coffee shop Outpost in Stoney Street and fast food takeaway Jimbos, which has shops in Abbey Street, Lenton and Carlton.

Ashir Mehmood, co-owner of Jimbos said: "Food hygiene is the most important piece of any food business. Food hygiene ratings are not just a number displayed on your window or website. This number not only represents a clean business but also, safe food handling, food preparation and demonstrates to the customer what type environment their food is prepared.

Jimbos in Lenton
Jimbos in Lenton

"We see the 5* food hygiene rating as a badge of honour at Jimbos and have our own systems and processes to maintain this government standard."

A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “We’re pleased this survey ranks us as the best large city for high food hygiene ratings in the country, giving people visiting Nottingham confidence they can safely enjoy all the great food and drink experiences our city has to offer.

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“We work hard to offer help and advice to prospective food business operators at the earliest opportunity, with a view to getting things right from the start. We also offer Level 2 Food Hygiene Courses at very competitive rates.

“When businesses do fall short of the required standards, we try to offer practical, cost-effective solutions to make improvements. Follow-up visits to secure compliance, coupled with promoting their right to request a revisit, ensures that premises with a poor rating have all the tools available to improve.”

The table was compiled by High Speed Training, an online training provider which has certified more than 450,000 people in food hygiene, after extracting date for a quarter of a million food businesses across the country.

Spokesman Lee Batchelor said: "Whilst 18th overall doesn’t sound too impressive, Nottingham is actually 1st when looking at major towns and cities with over 1,000 food establishments. Nottingham appears to buck the trend of more businesses leading to a lower hygiene rating overall and the people of Nottingham can be proud that their city appears to be taking food hygiene seriously."

Harrogate, in the heart of Yorkshire, topped the table and Walsall, in the West Midlands, was last.