A popular Thai restaurant has been shut down after inspectors found rodent corpses littered around the food preparation area.

On December 18 food officers from Waltham Forest Council visited Singbury Thai Restaurant on the High Road, Leytonstone.

They were confronted with the stomach turning site of dead mice festering in the food preparation and storage area, with catering supplies having clearly been gnawed by hungry rodents.

Sous vide dishes – where food is slow cooked at a lower temperature than usual – were being prepared mere feet from mouse faeces and corpses, which could have posed a serious risk to the health of diners.

For Sam Filby, who used to regularly frequent restaurants on the High Road, Singbury's downfall is symptomatic of a broader trend in Leytonstone.

He said: "I think it is particularly prevalent in this area. Half of the high street has been closed down in the last year.

"I used to work in the town hall and I would walk down the high road and have food from a number of the restaurants.

"Now I simply wouldn't. You don't know what's going on behind the counter."

Thames Magistrates’ Court confirmed the closure on December 20 and awarded the council costs of £864.00.

In 2018 the borough’s environmental health team served HEPOs on 21 food businesses for breaches of food safety regulations.

Food businesses that are served with closure orders must make improvements before they are re-inspected, and can only reopen if inspectors consider the risk to customers’ health has been minimised.