Bushey's Secret Garden Café gets 1/5 food hygiene score

The Secret Garden Café in Bushey has blamed paperwork issues for the rating, which was published on Tuesday (April 28) just weeks after it opened.

It was told "major improvement" is needed in the management of food safety, with "improvement" also needed in terms of hygienic food handling. The cleanliness and condition of the building was rated "very good".

The business is located on the grounds of Reveley Lodge, a Grade II listed Victorian house and public garden in Elstree Road.

Reveley Lodge, Bushey (Image: Tripadvisor)

A spokesperson said: "The rating was primarily due to us not having our Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack on site during the inspection, as it had been taken home, which meant we weren’t able to demonstrate our documented checks (such as temperature records) on the day.

"We want to reassure customers that food safety has always been taken seriously and the required systems were in place — we simply couldn’t evidence them at the time of the visit.

"Since then, we have ensured all documentation is kept on site, fully up to date, and easily accessible. We have also reviewed our processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again and have requested a revisit."

They added that they are a "small, family-run café and are committed to providing a safe, welcoming environment for all our customers".

Reveley Lodge has a Tripadvisor score of 4.8 from 17 reviews.

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Management of food safety is described by the Food Standards Agency as the “system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future”.

Hygienic food handling refers to "the handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage".

The rating means that The Secret Garden Café is now one of 12 businesses in Hertsmere to hold a 1/5 food hygiene score.

Early social media reviews have been positive, with one customer describing it as a "lovely new place for lunch" with "delicious simple food".