A LANDMARK Swindon hotel has been ordered to pay more than £20,000 in fines and court costs after admitting a dozen breaches of hygiene regulations said to pose a significant risk to public health.

Great Western Hotel (Swindon) Ltd, which owns The GW in Station Road, was hit with a £13,200 fine, as well as being ordered to pay £7,500 costs at Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Director Gavin McKelvie, 42, was ordered to pay £4,400 while the kitchen manager at the time, Mark Wylie, 30, was fined £2,200.

It follows an inspection by a Swindon Council environmental officer in March last year, which revealed numerous serious breaches.

Milk was found on top of raw chicken, while out of date sandwiches were found on the premises, ready for sale.

The inspector found a kitchen covered in food debris, a lack of hand soap and a failure to record temperature checks of food or equipment.

Later analysis also found e-coli on the fridge handles.

An inspection had also been carried out in March 2013, when many similar problems were found, including an issue with non-compliance with hygiene rules.

Before the inspecdtion the hotel had a three-star rating and there were no complaints by customers or reports of anyone becoming ill.

All of the defendants admitted the offences and Anna Mathias, defending all parties, said they accepted standards had been allowed to slip to an unacceptable level – but action had now been taken to rectify all the problems.

Since the inspection, new practices have been put in place to ensure staff are properly trained and Mark Wylie is no longer involved with the food side of the business, she said.

The hotel was the first purpose-built pub by Arkell’s, who are no longer involved in the business.

The court was told in the last year, £150,000 has been invested in the premises, including £30,000 on the kitchen.

However, Chairman of Bench Jane Flew criticised the decision to refurbish the hotel rooms before the kitchen and said if they had fixed problems raised in 2013, the case would not have got this far.

She said: “The conditions were appalling and posed a significant risk to public health. There has to be a deterrent.”

Following the case, a council spokesman said: “This is one of the worst cases we have seen for some time.

“The owners of the business had no explanation when we asked them as to why they had let the kitchen get into such a condition, and the pictures speak for themselves.

“We only prosecute where efforts to persuade a business to improve have failed, and in this case we had absolutely no choice but to take court action.

“We now hope that in future standards will be significantly better and we will be monitoring the premises closely.”

Speaking after the hearing, hotel licensee Gavin McKelvie and business partner Mark Wylie said they accepted the hotel’s practices were not up to standard at the time of the inspection, but took full responsibility and implemented all necessary measures rapidly in order to put matters right.

“We very much regret the situation we found ourselves in a year ago,” said Gavin.

“However, we very quickly put things right and have moved on significantly further since then.

“The hotel, bar-restaurant and kitchen are now totally transformed and trade is good, with many customers coming back time and again.”