Ashford Food Hygiene: All 23 October Ratings So Far Are 5s

Every food hygiene rating published so far for an October inspection in Ashford borough is a 5. There are 23 of them, from the Harvester at Bybrook Barn to the catering at St Mary’s Church.

The late September ratings tell a less tidy story. When we reported on September’s inspections on 6 October, all 24 on the register were 5s. Thirteen more have been added since. Four of them are below a 5, including a 2 for a takeaway in Kennington.

All the figures here come from the Food Standards Agency’s register, which we read in full on 3 November 2026.

The late September ratings below 5

September now has 37 ratings: 33 scored 5, three scored 3 and one scored 2. A 2 means “improvement necessary”. A 3 means “generally satisfactory”.

• Kennington Grill/Turkish Bites, 1B Tile Kiln Road, Kennington, was rated 2 after an inspection on 9 September. The register marks hygienic food handling as needing improvement. The condition of the building and the management of food safety were both “generally satisfactory”.
• Variety Cash and Carry, 3a High Street, Ashford, was rated 3 on 7 September. All three parts of the inspection were marked “generally satisfactory”.
• The Riverside Inn, Rugby Gardens, Ashford, was rated 3 on 17 September. Food handling was marked “good”; the building and the management of food safety were “generally satisfactory”.
• Ashford Halal Shop Limited, 4 New Rents, Ashford, was rated 3 on 22 September. All three parts were marked “generally satisfactory”.

None of the four has added a reply to the register, and none is shown as awaiting a new rating. A rating stands until the council inspects again. A business can appeal within 21 days, ask for a re-inspection once it has made improvements, or publish its own response on the register.

The other nine late September ratings were all 5s. They include KFC at Waterbrook Park, Sevington, Davies Family Bakery on Beaver Road and The Secret Garden in Biddenden.

The October 5s

A 5 means hygiene standards are “very good”. These are the 23 ratings dated October, in date order. Where the register gives only a postcode district, the business is usually run from a home address, and we give the district alone.

Five of the 23 are in and around Tenterden, about ten miles south-west of Ashford. Two of those trade from the same stretch of Ashford Road in St Michaels.

This list will grow, and it may not stay all 5s. September’s showed what happens: the lower scores arrived weeks after the 5s, once the 21-day appeal window had passed. Nothing on the register is yet dated after 22 October.

Where the borough stands

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Of the 1,170 premises in the borough that hold a rating, 1,047 are rated 5. That is 89.5%, up from 89.4% when we last counted on 6 October. The full spread is:

• Rated 5: 1,047
• Rated 4: 87
• Rated 3: 23
• Rated 2: 11
• Rated 1: 2
• Rated 0: none

Another 86 premises are awaiting a first inspection and 36 are exempt from the scheme, so we have left them out. Thirteen premises hold a 1 or a 2, one fewer than on 6 October.

What it means for you

Food businesses in the borough are inspected by Ashford Borough Council’s environmental health team, and every rating ends up on the FSA register. Search a takeaway or cafe by name before you order. Businesses in England do not have to display their sticker, so the register is the only reliable place to see it.

A low score is a snapshot of the day of the inspection. If a business you use has a 2 or a 3, check the register again in a few months: a re-inspection after improvements replaces the old rating.

We publish these ratings every month. The September roundup has the August scores below 5, and our Ashford news page has the rest of this week’s stories.

Sources

• Food Standards Agency food hygiene rating register, Ashford Borough Council area (authority 249), read in full through the FSA’s open data API on 3 November 2026, for every rating, inspection date, score breakdown and borough total above.