Does your food hygiene rating affect your closure process?
Your food hygiene rating does not need to reach a specific score before you can close your business — it is not a barrier to dissolution. However, a low rating may indicate outstanding compliance issues that Environmental Health wishes to re-inspect. If an inspection visit is scheduled, it is courteous and legally sensible to notify the authority that the business is closing and cancel the visit. A restaurant with a poor rating that closes without notifying authorities may attract scrutiny if the same directors open a new food business.
Notifying Environmental Health when closing
All food businesses must be registered with their local authority under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. There is no formal deregistration form — you simply notify your local Environmental Health department by email or phone that the food business has permanently ceased trading, stating the date the premises closed. Ask for written confirmation. This prevents unnecessary follow-up inspections and ensures the food business register is kept accurate.
Outstanding food hygiene inspections and compliance
If Environmental Health has issued an improvement notice, emergency prohibition notice, or hygiene emergency prohibition order against your premises, you must comply with or formally contest it even if you intend to close. You cannot simply ignore an outstanding enforcement notice by dissolving the company — notices can give rise to criminal liability for directors personally. Seek legal advice if you have any outstanding enforcement action.
Food hygiene records and retention requirements
Food businesses are required to maintain HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) records and other food safety management records. Although there is no statutory minimum retention period for HACCP records under UK food law, best practice is to retain them for at least two years. If there is any pending enforcement action or a personal injury claim relating to your food business, retain all records for the duration of any limitation period — up to six years for contract claims, three years for personal injury. Do not destroy records before the company is dissolved.
What happens to your food hygiene rating entry after closure?
When a food business closes, the local authority updates the Food Standards Agency (FSA) food hygiene rating database to mark the establishment as closed or no longer trading. The historical rating remains on the FSA's open data portal but the business is marked as closed. If you re-open a food business at the same or a different address, you will need to re-register as a new food business and receive a new inspection before a rating is issued.