Epsom and Ewell's register lists 95 food businesses waiting on a first rating and 45 whose rating predates 2023. The oldest still on display was given in 2009.
Ninety-five food businesses in Epsom and Ewell are listed on the national hygiene register without a rating, because they are still waiting on a first inspection. A further 45 carry a rating that was given in 2022 or earlier. The oldest still on display was awarded on 6 April 2009.
Those figures come from the Food Standards Agency’s own register, pulled in full on 1 September 2026 for Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, which is the food authority for the borough. The register holds 561 premises here. Of those, 444 carry a numerical rating, 95 are marked as awaiting inspection and 22 are exempt.
The ratings themselves are good. Of the 444 rated premises, 344 hold a 5, the top mark. Only four sit below a 3.
Where the gaps are
The FSA says the interval between inspections “varies from six months for the highest risk businesses to two years for lower risk businesses”. Judged against that, a large slice of the borough’s register is well out of date.
Thirty-two premises were last rated in 2021 or earlier. Among them:
- Ballards Newsagents, 78 Chessington Road, rated 3 on 6 April 2009
- Texaco Petrol Station, 242 Ruxley Lane, rated 4 on 16 April 2010
- Epsom Newsagents, 19 Waterloo Road, rated 3 on 19 May 2010
- Odeon Cinema, Upper High Street, rated 5 on 15 June 2012
- Aldi, 379 to 393 Kingston Road, rated 5 on 5 August 2015
The 95 awaiting a first inspection are not obscure corners of the register either. They include 27 restaurants, cafés and canteens, 28 other retailers, 12 takeaways and sandwich shops, 11 mobile caterers, seven manufacturers and packers, three schools or colleges, three caring premises and two pubs or bars.
A business with no rating is not a business that has failed one. It means the council has not yet inspected it, so there is nothing published for a customer to look at.
The four lowest ratings
Three premises in the borough currently hold a 1, which the FSA describes as major improvement necessary. One holds a 2, improvement necessary.
Every FHRS record carries three separate area scores, and they say which part of the inspection pulled the rating down. On all three of the 1-rated premises, management of food safety was the only area marked major improvement necessary.
The register records:
- Oaklawn, a caring premises at 400 Chessington Road, West Ewell, rated 1 on 14 July 2026. Hygienic food handling: improvement necessary. Cleanliness and condition: good. Management of food safety: major improvement necessary.
- St Anthonys Home, a caring premises at 7A Rosebery Road, Epsom, rated 1 on 21 July 2026. The same three findings, in the same order.
- Miah’s Oriental Foods, a retailer at 166 to 170 Ruxley Lane, West Ewell, rated 1 on 25 July 2024. Hygienic food handling: improvement necessary. Cleanliness and condition: improvement necessary. Management of food safety: major improvement necessary.
- Chop Chop Kitchen, a retailer with no published street address in KT19, rated 2 on 19 June 2026. Hygienic food handling: generally satisfactory. Cleanliness and condition: improvement necessary. Management of food safety: generally satisfactory.
That pattern matters, because it is not what most people assume a low rating means. The FSA defines management of food safety 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”. Two of the four premises above were marked good on the cleanliness and condition of the building itself.
A food hygiene rating covers food safety only. It is not an assessment of care, and for a care home it says nothing about the quality of care provided, which the Care Quality Commission inspects separately.
The right of reply
A business that disagrees with its rating has three routes, all set out in the FSA’s guidance for businesses:
- Appeal. In writing, within 21 days of being notified of the rating. The council must respond within 21 days of receiving it.
- Right to reply. No deadline. The business’s comment is published alongside its rating.
- Re-rating. Once improvements are made, a business can request a re-inspection. In England the council must carry it out within six months of the request where no charge is made, and within three months where a fee is paid.
The register’s right to reply field was empty for all four premises on 1 September, and none had a new rating pending.
Was August a bad month?
Seven inspections have been published for the borough for August 2026, and every one scored 5. July carried 21.
That gap is not a collapse in inspections. The register publishes roughly a fortnight behind the visit, and the newest Epsom and Ewell record on 1 September was dated 15 August. Most of August has simply not appeared yet. We will look again once it has.
What it means for you
Check before you order. Every rating, and the three area scores behind it, is free to look up by business name or postcode at ratings.food.gov.uk. Displaying the sticker is voluntary in England, so the absence of one on the door tells you nothing.
Read the area scores, not just the number. A 5 on the door can sit alongside a “generally satisfactory” on one area. A 1 often reflects paperwork and management systems rather than a visibly dirty kitchen, and the register says which.
“Awaiting inspection” is not a warning. It means no inspection has been published yet.
You can report a problem. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s environmental health team enforces food hygiene law in the borough and takes complaints about food premises.
Our own Epsom business directory lists local restaurants, pubs and shops with addresses and opening hours.
Sources: Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating Scheme register, full extract for local authority 267 (Epsom and Ewell), retrieved 1 September 2026, and individual business records on ratings.food.gov.uk; Food Hygiene Rating Scheme guidance for businesses, gov.uk. Ratings are those published at the time of writing and can change after a re-inspection.
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