Chichester Food Hygiene: 1,233 of 1,304 Rate 5

Of the 1,304 premises in Chichester district that hold a food hygiene rating, 1,233 are rated 5 out of 5. That is 94.6 per cent, and it is a better share than either of the neighbouring districts.

The figures come from the Food Standards Agency’s own hygiene rating register, downloaded in full for Chichester, Arun and Havant on 2 September 2026. The register is a live record, so it changes as inspections are published.

Nine premises across the whole district are rated below 3. Two are rated 0.

Chichester against its neighbours

The three districts were pulled on the same day, from the same register, so the comparison is like for like. Arun covers Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and Arundel. Havant covers Hayling Island, Emsworth and the coast west of the district boundary.

The gap with Arun is the striking one. Chichester district has more rated premises than Arun and roughly a third as many below a 3.

Within Chichester, the pattern by business type is worth knowing:

• Schools, colleges and universities: 65 rated, all 65 hold a 5. A clean sweep.
• Care homes and other caring premises: 125 of 128 hold a 5, 98 per cent.
• Restaurants, cafes and canteens: 251 of 265, 95 per cent.
• Pubs, bars and nightclubs: 134 of 144, 93 per cent.
• Takeaways and sandwich shops: 54 of 64, 84 per cent. The lowest share of any large category.

The catch: this month’s ratings look perfect, and they cannot be

Here is the thing almost nobody tells you about the register, and it changes how you should read any “hygiene ratings this month” list, including ours.

Every one of the 26 Chichester ratings published in the last 30 days is a 5. All 26. Over 90 days the mix looks normal again: 137 fives, six fours, two threes, one two, one one and one zero.

That is not a sudden improvement. It is how publication works. The Food Standards Agency’s own guidance for businesses says it plainly:

Ratings of ‘5 - very good’ will be published as soon as the information is uploaded

and that ratings of 0 to 4 “will be published 3 to 5 weeks after the date of inspection”, to give the business time to appeal. A business has 21 days from being notified to lodge one.

You can see that lag in the register itself. On 2 September, the most recent rating published in Chichester district for each score was:

The nine below a 3

These are what the register records on 2 September 2026. Every business has a right of appeal against a rating within 21 days of being told it, and a right of reply that it can submit at any time up to its next inspection, which the council then publishes alongside the score. A rating is a snapshot of one inspection on one day.

The two zeros got there by different routes, and the register says how. Every inspection scores three separate areas: hygiene practices, the condition of the building, and confidence in management. In each, a lower number is better.

• The Half Moon Inn scored 20, 20 and 20. That is a poor score in all three areas at once.
• The Bill Selsey scored 5 for hygiene practices and 10 for the structure, both of which on their own would sit comfortably in a 4 or a 5. It scored 30 for confidence in management, the worst available, and that single area dropped the whole rating to 0.

That is the part of the scheme most people miss. The worst individual area caps the rating, whatever the other two look like.

What it means for you

• Check the rating, and check the date next to it. Four of the nine premises above were rated in the first half of 2026 and two in 2025. A business may have been reinspected since and be waiting for the result to publish.
• A brand new 5 is real. A missing recent rating is not proof of anything. If a place you use was inspected in the last month and no new rating has appeared, that only tells you it was not a 5, and it may still be under appeal.
• 88 premises in the district have no rating at all, because they are awaiting a first inspection. A further 57 are exempt, which generally means low-risk premises like a village hall serving tea.
• Every rating is published free at ratings.food.gov.uk, searchable by name or postcode, with the three area scores behind it.

We will run these figures again next month. If the share rated 5 moves, we will say by how much and in which direction, rather than reprinting whichever ratings happened to publish that week.

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