Langshott Manor handed £80,000 fine, plus costs, for serious breaches of food hygiene legislation

Utopia Leisure Ltd, the company which owns and operates Langshott Manor Hotel in Horley, was on 13 August 2025, found guilty of amongst other things; failing to train and supervise their food handlers, failing to comply with a Hygiene Improvement Notice and failing to comply with food safety requirements. 

The Court ordered them to pay a fine of £80,000 plus £21,000 in costs.

Following a number of visits to the establishment by Council officers from the Food Safety Team, the hotel owners were required to make improvements to ensure compliance with relevant food hygiene legislation. Owing to continued non-compliance with relevant legislation and a Hygiene Improvement Notice, the Council  prosecuted the Company for non-compliance with food  legislation.

Food handlers not sufficiently trained

The Environmental Health Officer also found that the hotel’s food handlers had not been sufficiently trained in systems to inform customers of allergens in the food being served. The standard of cleanliness in the food preparation areas was poor, high-risk food ingredients were being kept past their labelled use by dates , food ingredients were kept in conditions which made contamination likely, and a designated raw meat surface was being used to prepare and store ready to eat/cooked foods.

During the sentencing hearing at Guildford Crown Court (sitting in Kingston), the Judge noted that there had been a failure from the defendant “to take appropriate action” and that “this failure was a long standing one”.  The judge determined that all of the five counts fell within the definition of high culpability because they all showed that standards had fallen below those recognised in the industry.

The Judge also said that had it gone to a trial, and accounting for all matters that had been placed in mitigation before him, he would have imposed fines of £60,000 on counts 4 and 5, £45,000 on count 3 and £37, 500 on counts 1 and 2. However, taking account the totality of the offences and giving full credit for the guilty plea the figure was reduced to a total of £80,000.

We want to provide support

Councillor Kate Fairhurst, Executive Member for Place, Planning and Regulatory Services at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council said: “We want to provide help and support to local businesses and our officers try and engage by offering advice and guidance where possible. However, when businesses fail to comply with legal requirements, we will come down heavily on them as we did in this particular case, to ensure public safety. We believe it is the right thing to do, and the Court agreed.”

She added: “It is important that businesses and business owners understand the importance of adhering to food hygiene legislation. I am very pleased at this result and hope it can be a lesson to everyone.”