The most unhygienic Gail’s in the country has been revealed after being hit with a poor rating less than 12 months after opening. 

The bakery in Birmingham‘s New Street has been slapped with a one-star rating by the Food Standards Agency. 

The trendy upmarket chain is known for its sourdough bread which sells for up to £13. Croissants are £2.80.

It has bakeries across the country including London, Bristol and Brighton. The New Street store was the first in Birmingham.

A score of one means major improvement is necessary, according to the FSA.

Anything below a score of three (generally satisfactory) is considered a fail from the Food Standards Agency.

The cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building was found by inspectors to need ‘major improvement’. This includes ensuring the building has appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

The management of food safety was also hit with a one-starred ‘major improvements necessary’ rating.

The Birmingham site failed to show there were checks in place to ensure that food sold is safe to eat, or evidence that staff know about food safety.

The food safety officer could not provide confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

While hygienic handling of food scrapped a pass with a score of three as ‘generally satisfactory’. 

The one-star rating is the lowest score of any Gail’s bakery and one of only three in the country to be failing in hygiene.

Earlier this year, stores in Cambridgeshire and London were awarded scores of two (improvement necessary).

A Gail’s spokesperson said: ‘Gail’s takes food hygiene very seriously, reflected in above average ratings across all our bakeries.

‘We have fully investigated this isolated incident which has now been resolved and are confident the issue is under control and poses no risk to our customers or products.’

It comes as the bakery chain’s rapid expansion has sparked boycotts and petitions throughout the UK, with locals expressing concerns about the impact on independent businesses and the character of their communities. 

In November last year, Gail’s announced it would be opening a new branch in Primrose Hill and locals quickly defaced the shops boardings with graffiti which said ‘Fail’s – Go Away’.

Meanwhile residents of Walthamstow Village fumed when they found out the chain was opening on their high street in 2024.

Locals claimed the branch was the ‘ultimate sign of gentrification’ and will see independent coffee shops lose trade.

It led to hundreds of people signing a petition against the opening after the chain announced plans to open 35 new UK sites.

The bakery was in May awarded Deliveroo’s Heart of the Community gong in the Restaurant of the Year awards, but last year the accolade went to a local family-run cafe in Rushden, Northamptonshire, Happy Mondays