A hotel in Oxfordshire visited by King Charles II has been handed back-to-back shocking hygiene ratings.

The Spread Eagle Hotel in Cornmarket in Thame dates back to the 16th century, being visited by King Charles II and has been a filming location for ITV's Midsomer Murders.

It was initially inspected by South Oxfordshire District Council’s Environmental Health team on July 7, 2023.

Inspectors stated that major improvement was 'necessary' and handed the hotel a crushing food hygiene score of one-out-of-five.

The facilities were visited again this year on Monday, June 24, but the hotel attained the exact score with inspectors less than impressed.

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Inside The Spread Eagle in Thame, Oxfordshire.Inside The Spread Eagle in Thame, Oxfordshire. (Image: The Spread Eagle)

One key issue was the management of food safety which was adjudged to require 'major improvement'.

This refers to having a system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat as well as if there is evidence that staff know about food safety.

It also details whether or not the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

Improvement was also deemed 'necessary' regarding The Spread Eagle’s cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building.

This includes having an appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

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King Charles II visited the Oxfordshire hotel.King Charles II visited the Oxfordshire hotel. (Image: Historic UK)

One area where the hotel did succeed was the hygienic handling of food which was rated as 'generally satisfactory'.

This concerns the preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage of food severed onsite.

Hotel general manager Steven Cartwright said: “The whole team at the Spread Eagle Hotel were extremely disappointed with the poor hygiene rating.

“There have been a number of historical issues to overcome, many of which are linked to the fact that the hotel is a very old building and clearly wasn’t originally designed to comply with current food safety legislation.

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“Significant amounts have been spent recently on upgrading these facilities to make them so.

“In addition, there have been significant personnel changes, with the previous hotel manager and chef no longer associated with the business.

“There have been some new appointments, and these will continue over the coming weeks and months.”

Mr Cartwright has revealed the hotel has applied for a revisit in order for the business to improve their score.

The team is proud of the part the hotel has played in the community and appreciates the continued support it receives,” he said.

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The hotel dates back to the 16th century.The hotel dates back to the 16th century. (Image: Thame Town Council)

“The owner remains committed to bringing the Spread Eagle back up to the standard that everyone rightly expects and remains committed to making the Spread Eagle the destination of choice in Thame and the surrounding area for both visitors and local residents. 

 “We have submitted a request for a revisit to the local authority and hope this will be carried out soon so that we can improve upon our rating.”

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