AN ABINGDON pub manager has praised her staff after hygiene inspectors handed out the highest possible rating.

The Narrows Pub, part of the Wetherspoons chain, was given the score when Vale of White Horse District Council environmental health officers paid a visit last month.

The £1.2m addition to the town's nightlife has been popular ever since it opened in 2013 and inspectors were equally as impressed with all aspects of the pub, restaurant area and kitchen after touring the premises and observing its staff and the procedures in place.

The pub's manager, Sarah Lowe, said: "I am delighted that we have gained the top rating and I'm sure our customers will welcome the news too.

"Standards of hygiene at the pub are of paramount importance."

Ms Lowe said it was the commitment of the establishment 40 or so members of staff, who worked diligently to make sure high standards were upheld.

She said: "All of the staff work hard to ensure that the pub offers its customers the highest levels of hygiene at all times and we are delighted that our efforts have been recognised with the five star rating."

The watering hole was given a 'good' rating in all three categories: Food hygiene and safety, structural compliance and confidence in management - which is based on track record and procedures carried out.

The 'good' rating highlights a strong level of compliance to the hygiene regulations but also concedes there may have been some minor contraventions preventing it from reaching 'very good'.

The pub opened during the town's Michaelmas Fair in 2013 after Wetherspoons converted the former Post Office branch in High Street.

It was named The Narrows, after the former name for the stretch of street from the old post office building to The Square, before it was destroyed by fire in 1883.

In November JD Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin claimed a 'sold' sign above the pub – put up by estate agents Martin and Co referring to flats upstairs – was 'damaging the pub's trade.'