Great British menu judge's cafe 'shut down over mouse infestation'

A court heard how a kitchen in a cafe owned by Great British Menu judge Oliver Peyton was covered in mouse droppings.

The ICA Bar was owned by Peyton & Byrne Ltd, and inspectors reportedly found mouse droppings inside food storage containers, on trays where food was kept and on weighing scales.

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Westminster Council is prosecuting the business, which has now gone into administration.

The Daily Mail reports that the company was summoned to court to face eight charges of "failing to comply with food safety and hygiene provisions", but nobody from the firm attended.

According to the Standard, the case was adjourned until 3 January 2017 for the council to contact administrators Deloitte.

No pleas have been entered to the health and safety breach charges as the last hearing in September, when pleas were meant to be entered, was adjourned.

According to thecaterer.com, Sodexo bought Peyton and Byrne's public contracts business after the company, founded by Oliver and Siobhan Peyton, entered a pre-pack administration.

The administration is thought to have arisen after Peyton & Byrne lost its contracts at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the British Library.

Ampersand dislodged Peyton and Byrne to win a £28m, five-year deal at Kew. Meanwhile, Graysons took over the £4m-a-year British Library contract.

Sodexo bought Peyton and Byrne's five remaining public contracts at the National Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Imperial War Museum, the ICA and the Wallace Collection.

Five bakeries and cafes, also part of the business founded by Oliver and Siobhan Peyton in 2005, have been sold separately to the Peyton family, so the brand will continue working alongside Sodexo.