The council has defended the city against claims that it offers the UK's most unhygienic night out.

A spokesperson of Worcester City Council has reassured residents that the city remains a safe place to eat out following a study which said "Worcester is home to the least hygienic night out venues”.

The study, by Property Inspect, found that Worcester had the lowest proportion of pubs, bars and clubs with a five-star hygiene rating, using data from the Food Standards Agency.

Only 40 per cent of all venues in the city have a five-star rating. However, the council say that anything above three is more than adequate.

The council spokesperson said: “People can eat out with confidence in Worcester, because the reality is that 98 per cent of the businesses in our city are rated as producing safe food, indicated by three stars or more.

“The vast majority of Worcester’s food businesses work incredibly hard to meet the required food hygiene standards, supported by our Regulatory Services officers, and it is good so see residents and visitors supporting them as they recover from the economic impact of Covid.

“Worcester News readers can check the city’s food businesses hygiene ratings for themselves at ratings.food.gov.uk.”

Worcester is one of only four cities where the proportion of five-star venues is below 50 per cent, along with Cardiff, Norwich and Cambridge.

At the other end of the scale, nearby Gloucester has the highest proportion of five-star ratings with 95.45 per cent, 21 out of 22 venues.

Across the country, 63.71 per cent of all pubs, clubs and bars have a five rating for hygiene, placing Worcester well below average.

Meanwhile only 0.94 per cent of all venues across the UK have a rating of one.

Warrick Swift, commercial director of Property Inspect, said: “Cleanliness and hygiene in venues of all kinds is becoming increasingly important to customers so a low hygiene rating affects businesses and their patrons alike.

“Venues with a hygiene rating below a 3 could lose as much as 34 per cent of their customers, so getting on top of cleaning practices, whether you’re a pub, club or bar is vital to survival, especially since the beginning of the pandemic.

The full study can be found here.

“Tracking cleaning processes and providing transparent information for customers is essential to adding peace of mind to the experience of your customers, especially as we begin to learn to live with Covid.”