Leasowe Castle in Wirral has closed its doors ‘temporarily’ after a number of issues – including a damning hygiene inspection last summer
An historic Merseyside hotel that has closed its doors and ‘ceased trading ‘was handed a zero rating for food hygiene after a damning inspection last year. Leasowe Castle Hotel in Wirral has closed its doors this week, with signs outside stating that the business is ‘temporarily closed until further notice.’
A message sent to staff, seen by the ECHO, states: “Due to circumstances beyond the hotel company’s control, we advise that we are immediately ceasing trading and operations temporarily until further notice.
“As a consequence due to the newspaper publishing and social media hype which has two main effects – a crash in trading activity and withdrawal of financial support for the business to continue operating. Accordingly, all staff are stood down temporarily and salaries and wages cannot be paid at this time.”
The ‘newspaper publishing’ being referred to is this investigation, published by the ECHO last week, which revealed that staff at the hotel had been left unpaid for months, with the owners blaming a number of issues for their financial difficulties.
Those reasons included damage from Storm Darragh at the end of last year, slow trading conditions and the fall out from a damning food inspection report last summer.
That inspection took place on August 19 2024, with health inspectors from Wirral Council awarding the hotel a zero rating out of five for food hygiene. This is the lowest rating a business can receive and is still the rating it holds today.
Health inspectors uncovered a catalogue of serious issues at the venue including a major infestation of rodents, dirty and greasy equipment and out of date food. According to the Wirral Globe, rodent droppings were also found in containers of sauces and dry ingredients – including inside an open box of ready to eat croutons – as well as on shelving where cooking utensils were stored.
There were also a number of food items found to be past their use-by date. The inspection report said that the standard of cleaning at the premises was “poor” with a build-up of “dirt, dust debris and grease” underneath and behind equipment.
Commenting after the findings came to light, the hotel’s owners took to social media to apologise. “Here at Leasowe Castle we would like to apologise to all of our past, present and future guests. We are sure you have all by now seen the articles with regards to out new food hygiene rating.
“Firstly, we would like to say sorry to everyone who we have let down with this current score. We are disappointed we have allowed this to happen to such an iconic local venue and can only apologise to those who we have let down.
“Secondly, we would like to assure all future guests and event bookers at Leasowe Castle we are currently investing heavily into new team training and food hygiene enforcements. So far, we have invested in increased pest control around the property, enforced mandatory hygiene training for all staff in back and front of house and gained help from industry professionals to implement new routines into out kitchens. We want all of our guests to understand that we do take this matter extremely seriously and everyone on the team is heavy hearted with regards to our score.”
The ECHO has attempted to contact the hotel owners over the current closure.