I am an emetophobe ( Scared of vomiting )
and as such will go out of my way to avoid germs/situations I could become ill from.

IE:

I wash my hands all the time, religiously, when others might not.
I avoid hospitals like the plague
when our household had the norovirus , I was terrified just waiting for my "go"

so as you may expect, when I eat somewhere I want the restaurant to be gleaming and know what they are doing.

I therefore use the FHR as a guide, I will only eat in places with a 4 or 5 out of 5
( good and excellent respectively )

so it annoys me no end when I see places operating with a 2 or 1 or even a flippin 0
this hellhole is local:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/lo...-after-6930996

had a 0 out of 5!!

why do councils just have a basic yes or no.

either you at least meet the requirements of what would be a 4 out of 5
or are closed

and why are checks not carried out more often and unannounced
( you wouldn't send a drug dealer a letter informing them you will be raiding them on Tuesday 20th may for example)

Budget or staff cuts I imagine. I was watching a program a few weeks ago (can't recall the name) but it was about food inspectors and how their budget has been scaled back so it's not possible for them to check on establishments more often than they do. We rarely dine out but often check review sites when make plans as past customers will usually tell you if the place looks dirty. As far as takeaway goes, the chippy around the corner from us is immaculate. I've never looked for an inspection rating but maybe I will next time I go.

The 'unannounced' part, that's probably because they don't like to see establishments shut down, it's bad for the local economy, so they want to give them the best chance of passing.

Sorry to hear about your condition, Jim, it must be hard at times for you. x

Our favourite Indian takeaway (which is also a restaurant) had a 5 rating.

The other week I was really quite poorly overnight after eating a chicken dhansak from there, it was awful. I checked the food hygiene rating out of interest and saw it had been downgraded to a 1 after their last inspection. So, they have gone from a 5 to a 1.

We won't be ordering anything else from there until their rating improves, there are other places with a good rating who I would rather use than risk being ill again!

Two or three weeks ago I had Indian food delivered from a place I've never used before, and I promptly had the worst gastro-enteritis the next day for two days. I lost 3 kilos in less than 24 hours. After I got better I looked for info about the restaurant's food hygiene rating and couldn't find any information, and my borough isn't even covered on http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk or http://ratings.food.gov.uk. I emailed my local borough council as I want to know if they are even fit to trade, and have heard nothing yet.

From now on I will only get takeaway from reputable chains or anywhere else which has proof they have a 4 or 5 star rating.

My favourite indian takeaway now has a 2 star rating shown in the window, but its filthy in there. You have to wipe your feet on the way out. I really doubt its a 2 star. I walked in and walked back out again. In a 4 month period the standards had severely dropped. I mean, if the area where clients walk in / out is filthy I dread to think what the kitchen looks like.

interesting replies!
seems to be common then, places going from 4/5s to 0/1s overnight.
Exactly the same happened here

we have an Indian restaurant in an large old church, done out to a superb standard and must have cost a fortune, was a 5 and award winning.
it's now a 1 and has been for a while.

same story elsewhere going from a 4 to a 0 with no notice.

one place by me doesn't seem to exist.
they aren't on the ratings website, they don't even come up on Google when you type the post code in?!

as porcupine said too, places that are a 2 are horrendous, and typically dirtier than a nightclub toilet on Sunday morning, so what on earth do people have to do to get a 0

I get its not a good thing to close business' down especially nowadays but
if a builder was assessed to build unsafe buildings one wouldn't let them build an extension , nor would the council.

shouldn't the same apply for food.
but maybe it is just a mountain of a molehill just seemingly worse due to my phobia.

I would take the rating with a pinch of salt. They are only valid for the point in time the inspection was done (could have been years ago) and it takes one bad employee to mis-prepare or store food and you have a problem. I've seen 5 star place which are terrible and 1 star places which are fine.

If you are really are that worried then visit the place and ask to see the kitchen if you can't see it from front. And place which has nothing to hide won't mind.