ANOTHER restaurant has been ordered to close after environmental health officers deemed it a risk to public health.

Kurinji, a Sri Lankan restaurant in Hoe Street, Walthamstow, was found to have a severe cockroach infestation and conditions inside were described as “really appalling”.

It is the second restaurant to be issued with a closure order in the last month, after Chicken and Curries, Leytonstone, was shut down in mid-August.

Speaking at Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court today, senior environmental health officer Philip Keighley said: “On August 28, I visited the restaurant.

“The place was absolutely filthy - everything, from fixtures and fittings to doors and even the aprons the staff were wearing.”

He also described how dirt and food had accumulated on every surface and how droppings left by cockroaches had been found in the premises.

But although another officer had laid cockroach traps in other shops nearby after residents in adjoining flats had complained about the insects, Kurinji was not inspected before August 28 when the full extent of its failings was discovered.

“In the storeroom, there was no organisation whatsoever. Dirt was building up all over the floor,” said Mr Keighley.

Restaurant owner and manager Kanthar Rahunaath was then served with notice that environmental health officers intended to have the restaurant closed down until it was properly cleaned.

“On September 1, I revisited the premises and conditions had hardly improved - cleaning was negligible,” Mr Keighley said.

Magistrates have now issued an emergency hygiene prohibition order to Kurinji, meaning the restaurant cannot re-open until it is no longer deemed a health risk.

Kurinji is one of more than 15 restaurants to be closed down by environmental health officers in the borough this year in a crackdown on food hygiene standards.