Every one of Bromley's 15 businesses rated 1 scored the worst mark for management, not food. One scored perfectly on food and premises and still got a 1.
Fifteen food businesses in the borough of Bromley currently hold a food hygiene rating of 1, the second-lowest there is. Every single one of them scored 20 for confidence in management. For eleven of the fifteen it was the single worst of their three scores. Ten of the fifteen scored 10 or better for the actual handling of food.
One of them, a distribution business in BR1 called Calm Craft, scored 0 for food hygiene and 0 for the condition of the premises. Those are the best marks available in both areas. It still holds a 1, because it scored 20 for confidence in management (Food Standards Agency register, read 2 September 2026).
That is not a quirk of one business. It is how the scheme is built, and almost nobody reading a sticker in a window knows it.
How a rating is actually worked out
Inspectors score three things separately. On these scores, low is good: 0 means full compliance and 30 is close to none.
- how hygienically the food is handled
- the physical condition of the premises
- confidence in the management systems that keep it that way
The three are added up. But the total is not the whole answer. The Food Standards Agency’s Brand Standard sets a second test, the “additional scoring factor”, which caps the rating according to the single worst of the three scores.
| Total score | Highest single score allowed | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 15 | 5 | 5, very good |
| 20 | 10 | 4, good |
| 25 to 30 | 10 | 3, generally satisfactory |
| 35 to 40 | 15 | 2, improvement necessary |
| 45 to 50 | 20 | 1, major improvement necessary |
| Over 50 | no cap | 0, urgent improvement necessary |
Source: Food Hygiene Rating Scheme brand standard, Table 3.
Calm Craft’s total was 20, which on total alone maps to a 4. Its single score of 20 exceeds the cap for a 4, for a 3 and for a 2, so it falls all the way to a 1.
The pattern across the borough
The register holds 2,472 Bromley establishments. Most of them are doing well: 1,683 hold a 5 and 291 hold a 4. Another 95 are awaiting inspection and 206 are exempt, which covers low-risk premises such as newsagents selling packaged goods, and childminders.
The interesting numbers are further down.
- Of the 162 businesses on a 3, 159 scored exactly 10 for confidence in management. Not 5, not 15. Ten, the mark that caps a rating at 3 once the total passes 20.
- Of the 291 on a 4, 65 had a total score of 15 or less, which on total alone is a 5. Each of them lost the top rating to a single area score above 5. In 36 of those 65 cases, that area was confidence in management.
- All 15 on a 1 scored 20 for management. None scored worse than 20 in any area.
- Businesses rated 2 are the exception to the pattern. Of the 17 on a 2, fifteen scored 10 for management and two scored 5. For thirteen of the seventeen, the condition of the premises was the single worst score.
The FSA is explicit that management is not a re-run of the food-handling assessment. It is a judgement about whether standards will hold up after the inspector leaves: the processes, the training, the records. A business can be running a clean kitchen on the day and still be marked down for having nothing written down.
August’s inspections: 34 out of 36 took top marks
Thirty-six Bromley businesses were given a new rating in August. Thirty-four of them scored a 5.
The two that did not:
- Butter Bakes, a catering business in BR1, rated 4 on 6 August. Its scores were 0 for hygiene, 5 for the premises and 10 for management, a total of 15. That is the FSA’s own textbook example: Table 4 of the brand standard uses the scores “0, 5, 10” to illustrate a business that would be a 5 on total but is capped at 4 by one area.
- Welcome, a takeaway at 24 Kent Road, Orpington BR5 4AD, rated 3 on 17 August. It scored 10 in all three areas.
Nothing in the borough scored below 3 in August.
Two cautions on that total. July’s figure was 98 new ratings, so 36 looks like a collapse, and it partly is not one: FSA guidance says ratings of 0 to 4 are published three to five weeks after the inspection, to leave room for an appeal (gov.uk). The most recent Bromley rating on the register is dated 27 August and there is nothing yet from September, so August’s number will rise. Second, inspection programmes thin out over the summer in most boroughs.
The three on a zero
Three Bromley businesses hold a 0, the register’s lowest rating.
- Bromley Common Social and Athletic Club, BR2 9NF, rated on 20 June 2025. Scores of 15, 20 and 20.
- Penge Cash & Carry, SE20 8JB, rated on 8 January 2026. Scores of 20, 20 and 20.
- Kairos Coffee London, a catering business in BR3, rated on 16 July 2026. Scores of 20, 15 and 30, the last being the worst mark the scheme allows.
The first of those has held its rating for over fourteen months. A rating stands until the next inspection, and businesses can ask their council for a re-rating visit once they have made improvements.
What it means for you
A rating tells you less than the sticker suggests, and the detail is free to look up.
- Check the three scores, not just the number. Every business’s page on ratings.food.gov.uk shows the breakdown. A 4 caused by a management score, with 0 for food hygiene, is a different proposition from a 4 caused by dirt.
- Low numbers are good. On the area scores, 0 is the best result and 30 the worst. The overall 0 to 5 rating runs the other way.
- A rating is a snapshot of one day. It stands until the next inspection, which for lower-risk premises can be years.
- The business has rights, and they matter to how you read the register. A rating can be appealed in writing within 21 days, and the appeal is decided by someone other than the officer who gave it. Separately, a business can add a “right to reply” at any time, published alongside its rating, explaining what has changed since. If you are looking a business up, read that too.
Our Bromley business directory lists trading local firms, and our July ratings roundup has the previous month’s list.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency ratings API, local authority 92 (Bromley), read 2 September 2026: 2,472 establishment records, rating values and the three area scores. Published under the Open Government Licence.
- Guidance on implementation and operation of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: the brand standard and statutory guidance, Food Standards Agency: Table 3 (mapping of scores to ratings) and Table 4 (worked examples), and paragraphs 3.5 and 4.4 to 4.5.
- Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: guidance for businesses, gov.uk: publication timings, the 21-day appeal and the right to reply.
- Search for ratings, the FSA’s public register.
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