The Cornish Bakery on North Street and Fratelli in Midhurst were both rated 1 in September. The late hygiene ratings from August and September, by premises.
Four food businesses in Chichester district were rated 1 out of 5 for hygiene at inspections in August and September. One is on North Street in Chichester, one is in Selsey, one is in Midhurst and one is a farm shop near Kirdford. A fifth, an Indian restaurant on West Street, was rated 2.
None of the five was in our last hygiene report on 2 September, and the reason is timing. The Food Standards Agency publishes a 5 straight away, but holds a 0 to 4 for three to five weeks so the business can appeal. The low scores from late summer are only now on the register.
The figures come from the agency’s hygiene rating register, downloaded in full for Chichester, Arun and Havant on 1 November 2026.
Rated 1 or 2 since August
| Premises | Inspected | Rating | Food handling | Premises | Management |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tasty Bites, Unit 3 Wave Approach, Selsey | 6 Aug | 1 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
| Costrong Farm Shop & Nursery, Plaistow Road, Kirdford | 27 Aug | 1 | 15 | 5 | 20 |
| The Old Cottage Indian Restaurant, 37 West Street, Chichester | 27 Aug | 2 | 10 | 15 | 10 |
| The Cornish Bakery, 27 North Street, Chichester | 15 Sep | 1 | 15 | 20 | 10 |
| Fratelli Italian Restaurant, West Street, Midhurst | 25 Sep | 1 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
Each inspection gets three area scores, and lower is better:
- Food handling and premises: 0 very good, 5 good, 10 generally satisfactory, 15 improvement necessary, 20 major improvement necessary.
- Management of food safety: 0 very good, 5 good, 10 generally satisfactory, 20 major improvement necessary.
Read across, the scores say different things went wrong in different places:
- The Cornish Bakery was marked 20, major improvement necessary, for the cleanliness and condition of its facilities and building. Its management of food safety was rated generally satisfactory.
- Fratelli, Tasty Bites and Costrong Farm Shop were each marked 20 on management of food safety. That covers the checks a business keeps, staff training and whether the officer is confident standards will last.
- The Old Cottage scored 15, improvement necessary, on premises, and generally satisfactory on the other two.
Selsey is about eight miles south of Chichester, Midhurst about twelve miles north, and Kirdford is in the far north-east of the district, near Billingshurst.
One business has replied
The register prints a business’s right to reply alongside its rating. Fratelli is the only one of the five that has used it. Its reply says the establishment “has been thoroughly cleaned and procedures are in place to ensure that cleanliness is maintained”. It says the restaurant “has been or will shortly be fully renovated”, that a new management system has been implemented, that there is a new manager or new staff, and that staff have been trained or retrained. It adds: “The conditions found at the time of the inspection were not typical of the normal conditions maintained at the establishment.”
Any business can ask the council for a re-inspection once it has made improvements.
Also below 5
Two more premises were rated 3, generally satisfactory, in August:
- Kirdford Village Stores, Village Road, Kirdford, on 18 August
- Quarry Lane Grill House, a mobile caterer registered at Quarry Lane, Chichester, on 19 August
September’s other ratings below 5 were 3s and 4s:
- The Lighthouse Fish And Chips, 1 The Ridgeway, Chichester: 4, on 25 September
- Loxwood Sports Association, the sports pavilion on Plaistow Road, Loxwood: 4, on 21 September
- Caterlink’s kitchen at Portfield Primary Academy, Chichester: 4, on 15 September
- seven primary school kitchens newly taken over by the caterer ISS: two 3s and five 4s, which we cover in a separate report
The district as a whole
| District | Rated premises | Rated 5 | Share rated 5 | Rated below 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chichester | 1,364 | 1,282 | 94.0% | 12 |
| Havant | 860 | 780 | 90.7% | 5 |
| Arun | 1,217 | 1,023 | 84.1% | 27 |
Chichester still has the highest share of fives of the three. But the number of premises rated below 3 has gone from nine on 2 September to 12 now. Two are rated 0, eight are rated 1 and two are rated 2.
October looks perfect, and it is not. All 27 October ratings on the register are 5s. That is the publication lag again: any 0 to 4 from October will appear over the next few weeks. The FSA’s guidance for businesses sets out the three-to-five-week delay and the 21-day appeal window.
What it means for you
- Check before you book. Every rating, with its date and the three area scores, is on the register. Businesses in England do not have to display their sticker, so the register is the reliable place to look.
- A rating is a snapshot. It reflects the day of the inspection. A business can appeal, reply on the record, or ask for a re-inspection, and the rating can change.
- Concerned about somewhere? Food complaints in the district go to Chichester District Council’s environmental health team.
Our previous report has the breakdown by type of business. More local records: planning news and house prices.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency hygiene rating register, full downloads for Chichester (authority 279), Arun (278) and Havant (244), read 1 November 2026, for every rating, date, area score and the Fratelli reply
- Food hygiene rating scheme: guidance for businesses, Food Standards Agency, for the publication delay, appeals and re-inspections
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