Curry house closed over rats

A Shropshire curry house was closed by environmental health officers after they discovered it was infested with rats.The Jaipur Indian Cuisine restaurant, in Sandford Avenue, Church Stretton, was visited by from South Shropshire District Council health officials on Thursday.

When they arrived, they discovered evidence of rat infestation in the kitchen and closed the restaurant.

The restaurant has since taken emergency precautions to rid itself of the rats and was allowed to reopen on Sunday.

Today Steve Price, head of environmental health at South Shropshire District Council, said the restaurant would be monitored to ensure there were no further problems.

Mr Price said: "We used emergency powers to close the restaurant temporarily. Signs were put up to that effect and Jaipur was closed during the weekend.

"The restaurant has since taken measures to address the problem and we are satisfied that it has been solved."

Mr Price said the restaurant was free to trade, but environmental health officers would continue to monitor it.

He added: "The premises received a formal closure order and a notice was fixed to the premises to protect public health."

Mr Price added that the district council was in the process of notifying Telford Magistrates Court that it had issued the order, which was a legal requirement.

He added that there were relatively few occasions when environmental health officers had to use powers to close restaurants.

Staff at the Jaipur restaurant were today unavailable for comment.