The Cyclopark’s cafe and the kitchen at Gravesend’s Gurdwara are on a list of places slammed by a government hygiene watchdog.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) published results of Gravesham inspections this summer showing the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, five restaurants and one pub had its second lowest rating.

The Sikh temple in Saddington Street, the Cyclocafe in Wrotham Road, Milton Ale Shades pub in East Milton Road, Comptons cafe in High Street, Saprano’s pizza delivery and takeaway in Parrock Street, Denton Fish Bar in East Milton Road, all in Gravesend, and R T Dosa Indian restaurant in The Hill, Northfleet, received a 1/5 rating, meaning “major improvement” was needed.

Restaurants, cafes, shops, or anywhere else that serves or sells food are rated on a 0-5 system. Places given a zero rating are said to need “urgent improvement” and those scoring five are said to be of a “very good standard”.

An inspector can shut down a restaurant or business on the spot if he or she feels the premises poses a sufficient health risk to the public.

Among those scoring 5/5 in this summer’s inspections, restaurants in Northfleet featured highly.

The Cafe of Northfleet in The Hill, Keeson House Care Centre in Council Avenue, Nicksons Snack Shack in Perry Street and Shere Punjab of Kent were all given top marks, as was the Railway Tavern pub in Wrotham Road, Meopham.

The inspections were carried out by officers from Gravesham council with all inquiries overseen by the FSA – a government body responsible for food safety and hygiene standards.

It also works with local authorities to enforce rules and check that requirements and regulations are being met.

"We are proud of the fact that we serve thousands of members of the local community every week from the Gurdwara kitchen" - Gurdwara spokesman

An FSA audit of Gravesham’s performance will be discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday. A report for councillors revealed Gravesham needed to work on how the inspections and interventions were recorded and on the implementation of its enforcement policy.

The Gurdwara serves free meals to members of its community every day with all visitors to the temple offered food, which is a custom of Sikh culture.

The standard of its kitchen was rated after an inspection on March 10 and a spokeswoman for the Gurdwara, said staff were working hard to improve hygiene standards.

She said: “We are proud of the fact that we serve thousands of members of the local community every week from the Gurdwara kitchen.

“Following the inspection we have taken measures to address the shortcomings and have worked with the community volunteers who run the kitchen and the external catering companies who make use of it.

“We are confident that the next inspection will see a marked improvement.”

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Premises are not warned before the arrival of an inspector but can appeal for another inspection if they are not satisfied with their rating.

Again, no notification will be given of a fresh inspection but if problems pointed out on the previous visit are rectified then a score can be changed.

The Cyclocafe got its poor rating after an inspection on July 29 but staff said they do not recognise it as final.

A spokeswoman said: “We would like to state that the rating is not a final representation of the cafe’s score and the quality and commitment to our customers is unaffected. There is a review undergoing at the moment and a final score will be published in three months time.”

Landlady of the Milton Ale Shades Ann Walters said she felt the council’s inspector was unsympathetic when he visited her on July 6.

Ms Walters was dealing with maintenance issues on the day and she said this resulted in her bad rating.

She said: “The day he turned up my boiler was down but the inspector wasn’t listening to me. He never listens.

“I never got the chance to get an engineer in. He just gives you a rating on the day and then comes back another time to change it.”

All seven of the restaurants and facilities were contacted for a response. Comptons cafe chose not to comment.