Live rats, scuttling cockroaches and fresh mouse droppings were just some of the revolting side dishes served up by a filthy all-you-can-eat restaurant, it has been revealed.

Food hygiene inspectors found Babylon Inn, a buffet eatery in Croydon town centre, was infested with rodents, poorly cleaned and even structurally dangerous.

The North End restaurant, visited five times by inspectors in the four years since it opened, admitted 36 food and safety offences at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court.

Director Mardan Mahood, a doctor at Lewisham Hospital who also runs a private clinic in Croydon, also pleaded guilty to 19 charges after being taken to court by Croydon Council.

His wife Hend Hamude, of Radcliffe Road, Croydon, denied she was running Babylon Inn after being taken to court but a judge dismissed her claims at court on September 23 and found her guilty of the same 19 offences.

The couple served up Indian, Chinese, Middle-Eastern and Italian food at their restaurant.

But they also dished out "appalling conditions", with inspectors uncovering:

  • an ongoing infestation of rodents, with mouse and rat droppings and chewed packaging found in the kitchen and food storage areas
  • evidence of German cockroaches found by inspectors in a food storage room
  • inadequate standards of cleaning in the kitchen, preparation area, storage rooms and basement
  • poor food-handling practices employed by staff
  • structural disrepair in the kitchen, preparation area, storage rooms and basement
  • health and safety hazards, including electrical safety issues
  • an incomplete food safety management system

A live mouse was also seen by a customer and his daughter in the dining area in May last year, the court heard.

Food safety officers first visited Babylon Inn for a routine inspection in July 2013, when they found several breaches of regulations posed and "imminent risk to public health" and closed the restaurant until they were addressed.

The council returned a week later and found Hamude had carried out sufficient pest control to allow to restaurant to re-open but failed to address any other problems.

A further visit in April last year revealed continuous breaches of the food hygiene regulations and additional health and safety failures, including poor quality structural improvements.

Councillor Mark Watson, cabinet member for communities, safety and justice said: "Such appalling conditions in an establishment serving food to members of the public, on what is arguably Croydon’s busiest shopping street, is completely unacceptable.

"The full weight of the law should be brought down on those responsible, while others serving the public should take heed and realise that such flagrant disregard of the food safety laws will not be tolerated in Croydon."

Mahood, Hamude and Babylon Inn Ltd will be sentenced on November 2.

They could not be reached for comment today.