A town centre butcher is facing an environmental health investigation after an inspection led to a zero-rated food hygiene score.

Rotherwood Butchers in Dover was inspected by the district council in early January and given a set of urgent changes which needed to be implemented right away.

The owner of the Biggin Street shop has told KentOnline he accepts cleaning "wasn't up to scratch" and he has done all he can to put the situation right.

He is now pleading with the local authority to re-assess his business as soon as possible.

All food and drink retailers must undergo regular assessment by public health officials.

Their findings are used to produce publicly-available scores - which range from five at the top end down to zero for the worst cases.

Dover District Council has declined to release a copy of the report outlining any specific issues produced following the inspection, and says an investigation into the business remains ongoing.

Steve Rother, who has run the shop since 2019, says he fears for the business if the council does not swiftly update its rating based on the actions he has taken since the investigation.

He has acknowledged some issues arose during the busy Christmas period when he was short-staffed.

He says some important paperwork was missing when the inspectors visited - and a repair to a fridge had been "botched".

"They are more than happy for me to continue trading obviously, because I rectified as much as I can," Mr Rother said.

"Everything that was on the urgent list, I've done.

"It's very, very naughty of the council - and I know it's their policy, they're not doing anything wrong - but it's an unfair procedure that they will come out and rate like that and they would then come back less than 24 hours later on my instruction and give me the OK, give me the all clear, and then not re-rate.

"It's a tough time of year anyway, especially giving the staffing situation I've since faced. I actually worked all night over Christmas one night, I worked all through the night because I didn't have to staff to get the work done.

"So that's why a couple of things may have been missed at the time.

"The cleaning wasn't up to scratch. I accept that and I rectified it at the earliest opportunity.

"I now need them to come out and re-rate."

"We can confirm that on January 4 the premises was inspected, and at the time it was given a zero rating, which means urgent improvement necessary..."

A spokesman for the district council said: "We can confirm that on January 4 the premises was inspected, and at the time it was given a zero rating, which means urgent improvement necessary.

"We are not able to comment further as this is subject to ongoing investigation."

Explaining the decision to withhold the report produced following the inspection, a council officer said: "There is an argument that disclosure could possibly provide reassurance and increase public confidence that the council conducts such inspections and enforces, and that publication of adverse reports could potentially act as a means of improving compliance.

"However, the effect of this information going into the public domain not only impacts on any imminent proceedings, but also has the potential to undermine the council's ability to properly take regulatory action and to effectively enforce more widely and thus the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in the report being disclosed."