Six Islington food businesses were rated 1 in September, up from two in August, two of them in Archway. Every low score and what it means, plus the new 5s.

Six Islington food businesses were given a food hygiene rating of 1, “major improvement necessary”, after inspections in September. That is three times August’s figure of two.

Two more were rated 2, “some improvement necessary”. Nobody was rated 0.

The figures come from the Food Standards Agency’s register for Islington, which we read on 23 October. It holds 82 inspections dated in September, and most went well: 62 businesses were rated 5.

Bar chart of food hygiene ratings given in Islington in September 2026: 62 rated 5, 8 rated 4, 4 rated 3, 2 rated 2, 6 rated 1 and none rated 0, from 82 inspections.
Eight of the 82 September inspections ended in a 1 or a 2. Chart by Islington Today.
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A business rated 0 to 4 has 21 days to appeal, so low scores reach the register a few weeks after the visit. The lowest September score on the register so far is dated 17 September. Inspections from the last fortnight of the month show only 5s, and a low score from those visits could still appear.

Rated 1: major improvement necessary

What the scores show

The FSA splits each inspection into three scores: food hygiene and safety, the structure of the building, and confidence in management. Lower points are better. The worst possible management score is 30, and 20 is the next worst.

All six of September’s 1s scored 20 for confidence in management. That is the part of the inspection about whether a business has a working food safety system and follows it.

Business Hygiene Structure Management
Fab Thai Street Food 15 15 20
Chicken Pot 15 15 20
Bold Food & Bar 15 15 20
La Mia Cucina 10 15 20
The De Beauvoir Wholefoods 10 10 20
Angel Food & News 5 5 20

Angel Food & News is the clearest case. It scored 5, a good mark, for both hygiene and the building, so its 1 comes from the management score alone.

Rated 2: some improvement necessary

  • Benchmark, a takeaway at 129G Upper Street, N1. Inspected 16 September. Its weakest score was the building (15 points).
  • The Sugar Shack, a restaurant or cafe at 403 Hornsey Road, N19. Inspected 17 September.

Rated 3 and 4 in September

The new 5s

Sixty-two businesses were rated 5, “very good”, in September. Among the restaurants, pubs and shops:

Thirteen kitchens run by the caterer Caterlink were also rated 5 as the new term began. They serve schools, early years settings and the Bemerton Children’s Centre, and include Pakeman, Gillespie, Grafton, Pooles Park and Ambler primaries. Five more nurseries and children’s centres were rated 5, including King Square Community Nursery and Kate Greenaway Children’s Centre.

What it means for you

If you eat at or shop with one of these businesses, the rating is a snapshot of the day of the inspection. A business can fix the problems and ask for a re-inspection, and it can also publish a “right to reply” on the FSA page.

If you run a food business rated 0 to 4, you have 21 days from being told of the rating to appeal, and you can ask for a re-visit once the work is done. The FSA explains how on its ratings pages.

You can check any Islington business, including ones not listed here, on the FSA’s ratings search. For August’s results, see our August food hygiene report.

Sources