A takeaway has bounced back and improved its food hygiene rating following a damning report.

Home Pizza in The Brow, Watford has been given a rating of 'very good' and a score of 5/5 when it was inspected on March 2.

It comes after the shop was graded 1/5, meaning major improvement was necessary, following an inspection on November 22 last year.

Watford Observer: Home Pizza in The Brow, before the parade of shops were rebuilt. Home Pizza in The Brow, before the parade of shops were rebuilt. (Image: Google Street View)

Watford Borough Council confirmed that when another visit took place on January 25, significant improvements had been made, and the eatery's new rating now reflects that progress.

Owner Marco Gharedaghi said: “I am proud and happy with the new score.

“I wanted to prove that the hygiene people had got the wrong decision.

“My kitchen is in front of the people, I cook in front of them, everything we do is in front of them.”

Mr Gharedaghi made several changes after the November inspection, including staff being booked onto classes on how to handle food.

Mr Gharedaghi told the Watford Observer that over the months, he has even shown customers round the shop to prove how clean he has kept it.

The report outlined several areas that inspectors wanted Home Pizza to improve.

It was asked to change or seal the bare wood edging surface that was used for pizza preparation, which has now been changed for a plastic one.

A build up of dirt on floors in hard to reach areas of the main kitchen was also found, but Mr Gharedaghi said: “We are concentrating on the cleaning and deep clean every week.

“Some of the fridge freezers you can’t move easily, but still we decide to look under with a torch.” 

He has also bought new chopping boards, as was instructed.

The report had claimed that rice was being cooked off site in someone’s home and the inspector called for this to stop, or the home needs to be registered as a food business.

But Mr Gharedaghi said: “We don’t have rice on the menu.

“We bring lunch in for work and that includes rice, but it is not for sale.”