A popular town centre kebab house has been slapped with a one-star food hygiene rating after cooks were discovered preparing food with paint brushes.

Staff at Cappadocia in Ashford were found basting high-risk meat with the tools, serving out-of-date food, and failing to clean a mouldy freezer.

Hygiene inspectors also found workers were insufficiently trained to ensure food was safely cooked, before warning bosses to shape up quickly following their January 10 probe.

“You must ensure all surfaces are safe to prepare foods,” they said.

“Deep clean your premises and put in place a schedule to ensure you maintain it is cleaned effectively daily.

“Your staff are not properly supervised or trained to ensure the food you produce is safe – ensure all equipment used is safe for use in food.

“You must ensure your food safety management system covers all activities within your business and protects food from contamination.”

Official Ashford Borough Council papers show inspectors went on to stress: “There is no measure to control shelf life of produce”.

Based a short walk from Ashford International in Station Road, Cappadocia Chicken House’s one-star rating is the second lowest available, with five being the highest.

The takeaway, which was previously a restaurant, has since been rebranded as Cappadocia Kebab House.

During the inspection, mould was spotted on the seal of a chest freezer which was used to store unlabelled open high-risk foods.

In the fridges, out-of-date food was found that had been used for food orders, delivered by JustEat or Cappadocia’s own staff – who were found to be lacking training.

Some items had been left to defrost in the fridge for more than five days, with inspectors having to warn the takeaway it needed to dispose of unsafe food and keep produce within a safe temperature range.

They also found fridge temperatures had not been correctly recorded.

In the ambient store, food items had been left open – with no protection from pests or rodents – with management being told to store opened ingredients in sealed containers.

A lack of sanitiser meant food equipment and preparation surfaces could not be cleaned and there was no disinfectant to make food preparation safe from cross contaminations.

The floor in the kitchen had broken tiles and was wet upon inspection due to the leaking boiler – a safety risk which cannot be effectively cleaned without repairs.

This led to a “generally dirty” premises which could attract pests, the council’s report says, adding the owner Serkan Gungor needed “to stop using [the] excuse of restaurant closing and start managing”.

Cappadocia has been contacted for comment.

The establishment made headlines in October last year after being forced to close its restaurant due to a lack of staff.

Mr Gungor previously told KentOnline: “I was struggling to do everything myself, like serving customers, taking orders, making their drinks, serving their food and wiping the tables.

“I am better off doing deliveries as the costs have dropped as well as I pay less wages now and I am using Just Eat’s drivers.”

The site next to Papa John's was occupied by The Kent Arms pub for more than 50 year, which Greene King took over and renamed the Fat Fiddler in the early 1990s.

In 2011, it was then converted into the Ashford Business Centre and a wine bar called Platform 5.

The Breeze Bar then took over but moved out in 2017 after spending less than a year in the building.

It was then vacant until 2019 until Mr Gungor and his brother opened Otto Bar and Shisha Lounge.

However, the pair decided to redesign the business after issues with Ashford Borough Council regarding outside space.

Mr Gungor and his family have previously been involved in restaurants in Tunbridge Wells, Gillingham, and south-east London, where he lived before moving to Ashford.