By Gabriel Morris and Daniel Esson

More than nine out of 10 Maidstone eateries with low food hygiene scores have not been displaying the correct rating - the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can exclusively reveal.

Takeaways and restaurants in the county town have been described as “trying to con the public”, as 21 of the 22 businesses in the centre rated three-star or below displayed either no rating, or the wrong one.

Businesses that serve food to the public are regularly inspected by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and given food hygiene ratings to show their compliance with rules on food safety, storage, and management.

These ratings can be found on the FSA’s website

While it is not a legal requirement to display your food hygiene rating, the FSA say showing an inaccurate number could be an offence under trading standards legislation.

KentOnline went to Maidstone to check if the stickers in the window matched with their official rating.

Of 22 businesses in the town with ratings of three or lower, 12 displayed no score sticker at all, seven were showing the wrong rating, and two claimed they were awaiting a reinspection after a low ranking.

Only one eatery - Nala Bheema’s - displayed an accurate three-star rating.

Pollito's Peri & Smashed Burgers on Week Street was displaying a five in its window, despite its actual rating being a two.

Bulent Turgut of Pollito’s told the LDRS they were reinspected suddenly just two weeks after being given a 5* rating.

He said: “We have invited their officers to return and reassess our premises and are working together with them to have our 5 rating reinstated.”

Kent International Food Centre was displaying a four, despite its rating being a two, and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Wingo’s was displaying a four despite receiving a three, but the owner, who refused to give his name, stressed: “Whatever you have seen all belongs to the previous owner. I'm the new owner and it's not really a big deal having anything on the door.

“Nowadays everything is online so it will make no difference and I don't think even the old owner or the previous owner did that on purpose. Maybe he forgot and we didn't pay enough attention.”

Matestone Coffee & Tea House on Middle Row was displaying a five in the window, despite being rated one star by the FSA.

When KentOnline approached owner George Spencer he said he will “remove it immediately” and had done so by the time of publication.

Chunky’s Sandwich Bar displayed a five when they had received a three, but the owner said this was because the drinks cabinet bearing the sticker was brought from elsewhere and the sticker was hard to remove.

Owner Martin Boorman added: “The drinks cabinet was purely an oversight and certainly in no way was meant to mislead, as business integrity is very important to me.”

After KentOnline contacted him, Mr Boorman removed the sticker.

Akins Food at Unit 9 of the Corn Exchange received a three, but displayed a four.

“I have emailed the council as I believe we were not given a second chance to amend the rating,” said owner Oluwaseun Akinsanya.

“Also, the inspector said they would come back in a week for reinspection and the council has not come back since then.”

Mexaha is displaying a 5* when its rated a 3* but did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Chấm and Pepe’s Piri Piri are both displaying awaiting inspection stickers which is often used when a business has only just opened.

However, Maidstone council’s environmental health team confirmed both had been inspected and received 3* earlier this year. Pepe’s has requested a third inspection.

Neither business replied to repeated requests for comment.

The punters of Maidstone were not impressed.

Ikiof Christopher, 27, said: “I think it’s a bad thing - you really don’t need to lie about anything concerning hygiene, you need to take it seriously.”

“It’s not right because then you get bad food hygiene and could get a bug or something,” said Amy Bonner.

Gary Lewis runs Lewis’ Fish & Grill with his brother Craig, and takes pride in his own high rating.

“We have always had a five star rating – it’s really important to give customers confidence when they come in that they're going to get really good fish and chips.”

When told of the numbers of businesses displaying false ratings he said: “I think that’s outrageous – to deceive the public is really wrong.

“For people to display a wrong rating it actually devalues the rating of having a five star.

“If you’ve got bad hygiene you run the risk of making somebody really ill.”

However, displaying the correct ratings is not legally mandatory in England - nor is displaying a rating at all.

It is however compulsory in Northern Ireland and Wales.

Christopher Elliot, vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health argues England should go the same way.

“In England it is voluntary and because it’s voluntary only about two-thirds of businesses actually bother to display,” he said.

The Queens University Belfast professor says making it compulsory would be “an unbelievable win for the government.

He continued: “80% of food businesses want the system to become compulsory, the FSA do, the Chartered Institute Of Environmental Health do, consumers organisations do, everybody wants it that way.

“If it’s not mandated those people who do it properly are losing out to those people who chose not to display or potentially cheat the system.

“In general what we find is that those businesses that get a good rating do display and those that don’t tend not to.

“That is to me cheating, it’s trying to con the public.

“Those businesses that have between a zero and a three score are much more likely to have food poisoning incidents than businesses that score a four or a five.”

The FSA says in England only 69% of businesses display a rating at all, compared to 92% in Wales and 91% in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for Maidstone Borough Council said the authority is “wholly supportive of any efforts to make the display of current and correct food hygiene ratings mandatory.”

The spokesperson continued: “The council is aware that there are food businesses in the town centre that either do not display, or display an incorrect food hygiene rating.

“In the case of incorrect ratings being displayed, this is usually where a premise has received a lower rating at their most recent inspection and the food premises has not put up the most current.”

Jesse Williams of the FSA said: ‘Our annual audits show that, in England, more than 90% of businesses which display a rating are displaying the correct one.

“But we take reports about inaccurate display very seriously.

“We ask people to report any concerns about inaccurate display to the relevant local authority so they can be properly investigated, since those businesses may be committing an offence under trading standards legislation.

“The FSA would like to see display of food hygiene ratings made mandatory through legislation in England, as it is in Wales and Northern Ireland.”

The cabinet office did not respond to our request on whether they have plans to legislate mandatory display of the hygiene rating stickers.