Sep 23, 2013, 8:15 am
Last edit by: 710 77345
The London Borough of Hillingdon has inspected the food preparation areas of the Concorde Room and Galleries First Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 (run by BaxterStorey on behalf of British Airways) and has indicated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme that Food Hygiene and Safety is POOR:
This is an appalling score, putting the lounge in the bottom 10% of all food establishments in England (including burger vans and kebab shops!).
The good news is that other lounges at Heathrow have scored 5 out of 5, including British Airways' Terminal 3 lounge and an unnamed T5 Galleries (albeit both assessed prior to handover to BaxterStorey), Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and many others.
Other establishments in Terminal 5 have received the following scores:
Amigos (North & South) - 5 out of 5 (21 February 2013)
Caffe Nero - 2 out of 5 (18 May 2012)
Carluccio's - 5 out of 5 (21 November 2011)
Caviar House - 5 out of 5 (31 May 2013)
Crown Rivers Wetherspoon Pub - 5 out of 5 (21 May 2010)
Five Tuns Pub - 5 out of 5 (18 May 2012)
Giraffe - 5 out of 5 (07 February 2013)
Gordon Ramsay Plane Food - 2 out of 5 (31 May 2013)
itsu - 4 out of 5 (16 November 2011)
Marks and Spencer - 5 out of 5 (08 May 2010)
Pret a Manger - 4 out of 5 (24 January 2013)
V Bar - 5 out of 5 (07 February 2013)
Up to date discussion on this topic is contained in this thread
This is an appalling score, putting the lounge in the bottom 10% of all food establishments in England (including burger vans and kebab shops!).
The good news is that other lounges at Heathrow have scored 5 out of 5, including British Airways' Terminal 3 lounge and an unnamed T5 Galleries (albeit both assessed prior to handover to BaxterStorey), Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and many others.
Other establishments in Terminal 5 have received the following scores:
Amigos (North & South) - 5 out of 5 (21 February 2013)
Caffe Nero - 2 out of 5 (18 May 2012)
Carluccio's - 5 out of 5 (21 November 2011)
Caviar House - 5 out of 5 (31 May 2013)
Crown Rivers Wetherspoon Pub - 5 out of 5 (21 May 2010)
Five Tuns Pub - 5 out of 5 (18 May 2012)
Giraffe - 5 out of 5 (07 February 2013)
Gordon Ramsay Plane Food - 2 out of 5 (31 May 2013)
itsu - 4 out of 5 (16 November 2011)
Marks and Spencer - 5 out of 5 (08 May 2010)
Pret a Manger - 4 out of 5 (24 January 2013)
V Bar - 5 out of 5 (07 February 2013)
Up to date discussion on this topic is contained in this thread
BaxterStorey and T5 lounges: "Improvement necessary" food hygiene rating
Sep 26, 2013, 7:26 am
#526
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: EDI
Posts: 792
And here is the food inspection report:
www.joe.org.uk/ba.pdf
www.joe.org.uk/ba.pdf
Sep 26, 2013, 7:30 am
#527
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 9,034
And here is the food inspection report:
www.joe.org.uk/ba.pdf
www.joe.org.uk/ba.pdf
And this letter proves the "the report was published on 3rd Sep, we're working on it " line from BA is nothing but rhetoric. They've know about the issues since 29th July.
Last edited by Paralytic; Sep 26, 2013 at 7:40 am
Sep 26, 2013, 7:34 am
#528
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: EDI
Programs: BD*G -> BA Gold + A3*G (now dropped to BA Silver)
Posts: 1,083
EDIT: just a thought. Perhaps BA didn't know about it until 3rd September. The report was addressed to BaxterStorey. Perhaps they hoped no one would notice.
Sep 26, 2013, 7:35 am
#529
Join Date: Dec 2007
Programs: Just a lowly Blue ;(
Posts: 1,780
Oh Dear
Whatever you do, don't use the ICE. I've seen what a dirty Ice machine looks like!!!!
Out of date EGGS!
On reading that I think they were lucky not to get a 1!
Whatever you do, don't use the ICE. I've seen what a dirty Ice machine looks like!!!!
Out of date EGGS!
On reading that I think they were lucky not to get a 1!
Sep 26, 2013, 7:35 am
#530
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Platinum, HH Diamond, Hertz PC,
Posts: 1,985
but no mention of "urine soaked biscuits" - do we now get another thread on the poor quality of Hillingdon Council's food inspectors .... 
Sep 26, 2013, 7:37 am
#531
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: EDI
Posts: 792
"At the time of inspection, boiled eggs standing in pooled liquid and Quince were found which were past their use-by date".
Yum yum!
Yum yum!
Sep 26, 2013, 7:41 am
#532
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 2,735
Yikes. I wish I hadn't read that report.
Most of the serious stuff was to do with p!ss poor food handling and nothing to do with the kitchen structure/facilities at all. And nor could the issues be blamed on Compass directly or the handover.
Shows that the BS response was mainly bs...
Most of the serious stuff was to do with p!ss poor food handling and nothing to do with the kitchen structure/facilities at all. And nor could the issues be blamed on Compass directly or the handover.
Shows that the BS response was mainly bs...
Sep 26, 2013, 7:42 am
#533
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 9,034
A thought, yes, but it was addressed to Baxter Storey at the BA Lounge. Do you really think they'd keep this from BA for over a month?
Sep 26, 2013, 7:46 am
#534
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 9,034
From the report:
"Also enclosed are a sticker and a certificate showing your rating. You can tell your customers how good your hygiene standards are by putting the sticker up in the window or on the door and by putting your certificate on display."
I wonder if that's on the to-do list too.
"Also enclosed are a sticker and a certificate showing your rating. You can tell your customers how good your hygiene standards are by putting the sticker up in the window or on the door and by putting your certificate on display."
I wonder if that's on the to-do list too.
Sep 26, 2013, 7:48 am
#535
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LUX
Programs: BA Gold GGL, Hilton Diamond, FB Grey, Amex MR, Trop Plus Gold
Posts: 851
What was most alarming was the raw fish preparation. Partly because all I thought they did was boil in the bag stuff from Gate.
Incidentally the lounge staff at the CCR are completely unaware, I asked this afternoon if the food was safe to eat, and the reply I got was "our food preparation has always been of the very highest standard". I had to ask what standard was the worst, if "poor" was the highest.
Incidentally the lounge staff at the CCR are completely unaware, I asked this afternoon if the food was safe to eat, and the reply I got was "our food preparation has always been of the very highest standard". I had to ask what standard was the worst, if "poor" was the highest.
Sep 26, 2013, 7:49 am
#536
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Left
Programs: FT
Posts: 7,285
well that was actually worse than i thought it was.
BTW, does anyone have a picture where the sticker is on the entrance to the lounge showing the rating?
BTW, does anyone have a picture where the sticker is on the entrance to the lounge showing the rating?
Sep 26, 2013, 7:54 am
#537
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LUX
Programs: BA Gold GGL, Hilton Diamond, FB Grey, Amex MR, Trop Plus Gold
Posts: 851
Which is vague enough that it might be in GF, but I can't be bothered to check.
Sep 26, 2013, 8:04 am
#538
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Platinum, HH Diamond, Hertz PC,
Posts: 1,985
There is no legal requirement to display the sticker so not surprisingly they are not!
Sep 26, 2013, 8:24 am
#539
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Battleaxe Alliance
Posts: 22,127
May I ask that the conversation on this topic is continued on the thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...rstorey-3.html
I noticed that since the thread above was started the responses are now scattered, with some cross-posting.
I thought about merging the two but some posts may not make much sense any more due to timing issues (e.g. a post responding to a post directly above it will not make sense as it is no longer directly above it if the thread is merged).
So I have made a decision to close this one to keep future posts in one place.
I will post a link to this thread in the 'new' one on the same topic.
Thank you for your understanding. If you have an opinion on the closure of this thread, please PM me. Please don't blame the other BAEC mods for this decision - I take full accountability for this decision.
LTN Phobia
Moderator: BA forum
I noticed that since the thread above was started the responses are now scattered, with some cross-posting.
I thought about merging the two but some posts may not make much sense any more due to timing issues (e.g. a post responding to a post directly above it will not make sense as it is no longer directly above it if the thread is merged).
So I have made a decision to close this one to keep future posts in one place.
I will post a link to this thread in the 'new' one on the same topic.
Thank you for your understanding. If you have an opinion on the closure of this thread, please PM me. Please don't blame the other BAEC mods for this decision - I take full accountability for this decision.
LTN Phobia
Moderator: BA forum
