A HEXHAM takeaway has been handed a new and improved food hygiene rating.

Golden Dragon, on Battle Hill, has been given a five-out-of-five (very good) by the Food Standards Agency.

It comes after the popular Chinese was given a one-out-of-five score after an assessment at the start of the year.

The hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage was found to be 'good' by inspectors.

The cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene was also ranked 'good', as well as management of food safety, including system(s) or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

Officers had previously found ‘improvement necessary’ with regard to cleanliness and the condition of facilities and the building and had said 'major improvement' was necessary for the management of food safety.

The takeaway was taken over by new management in the middle of December 2021.

The Golden Dragon was contacted for comment.