A HAMPSHIRE pub has been thumped by a record fine for having a filthy kitchen.

O'Neills, one of Winchester's biggest pubs, pictured right, had a kitchen with ingrained dust, dirt, grease and food scraps on the floor, as well as grease on food surfaces, grills, ovens and some dried blood in a fridge, a court heard.

Its owner, Mitchell and Butler, pleaded guilty to nine counts of food hygiene breaches and was fined £36,000 with £5,000 costs, believed by the city council to be the largest for a Winchester pub.

Michael Rogers, former manager, pleaded guilty to six counts. He was fined £3,000 with £2,000 in costs, by magistrates in Basingstoke on Tuesday.

It is the third Winchester food outlet to be prosecuted recently, following Charles House Fusion and The Royal Oak.

The latest charges stem from a visit by environmental health officers from Winchester City Council last September.

Gary Lucie, prosecuting for the council, said before O'Neill's started serving food in 2005, officers had found it in a poor state of cleanliness.

Mr Lucie said Mr Rogers had said to the environmental health officer in September that he hoped he would find the pub in an improved state since his last visit.

"Quite frankly it was filthy in a number of aspects," said Mr Lucie.

Adam Gadd, mitigating for Mr Rogers, said his client had previously run O'Neills as a late night drinking bar and was struggling to adjust to serving food during the day with a low budget for staff.

He added Mr Rogers now ran a pub in London, had learned his lesson and did pay £890 out of his own pocket towards the clean-up.

After the hearing, a spokesman for Mitchell and Butler said: "All charges brought against O'Neill's relate to an inspection in September 2006. Since then, a number of stringent processes have been implemented to ensure the highest standards of food hygiene."

Following the inspection the kitchen was voluntarily closed to be deep cleaned and disinfected.

Robert Heathcock, head of environment at the city council, said: "We are concerned that we have had to prosecute three food businesses in recent months."

He added: "This case also highlights that people with day-to-day control of a business may be prosecuted and cannot hide behind the company they work for."