Diners in Carlisle are treated to the cleanest restaurants in the country, according to new data.

Figures have revealed that the city has the highest average food hygiene rating in the country, with 4.9 out of five.

The good news came as restaurants prepared to finally be allowed to serve customers indoors again from today after months of lockdown restrictions. The coronavirus crisis has made hygiene in the sector even more important.

Some restaurants contributing to Carlisle’s high score included Siam Thai Restaurant, Nandos and the now-closed Dempsey’s, all of which scored five out of five.

Robert Dance, who owns Siam Thai along with his wife, was pleased with the result.

He said: “That’s fantastic news – I didn’t know that. I’m very pleased.

“They do work very hard there to keep that up – it’s my wife’s restaurant really, I just do all the background stuff.

“They’re very much looking forward to reopening today.”

The data was gathered by End-ofTenancy-london.co.uk, which analysed the food hygiene ratings of restaurants, cafes and canteens with a current rating across different UK cities.

The average food hygiene rating out of 5 for each UK city was then ranked from highest to lowest to see which cities were home to the cleanest and dirtiest restaurants.

Following Carlisle in second place was Gloucester with an average score of 4.87 out of five. A few places brought the city down, with one restaurant receiving a score of zero.

In third place was Worcester with an average score of 4.81, while taking joint-fourth place with average scores of 4.8 were Hartlepool, Lincoln, Southampton and Chatham.

At the other end of the scale, Birmingham had the worst average food hygiene rating with 4.15, followed by Salford with 4.29 and London with 4.3.