How Sunderland's Revolution bar went from a one star hygiene rating to full marks

In February, the Echo reported how issues including contaminated ice machines and cooked food stored with raw meats were among the reasons why environmental health officers from Sunderland City Council gave the bar in Low Row a one star hygiene rating.

It proved to be a wake up call for the bar which made a number of changes, including employing a new kitchen manager, in order to address the problems raised and in the most recent inspection they were awarded the highest rating of five stars by inspectors.

Tracey Lowes was taken on as kitchen manager after the one star rating and took on two new members in her team to tackle the areas of concern.

She said: “We’ve worked really hard on cleanliness, prep and staff knowledge. We’ve also retrained staff and have set more of a routine of cleanliness. A lot of it was things staff already knew, but it was about getting them in a routine. We feel really proud to get the rating up to five stars and we want people to know about it.”

She says some of the most popular dishes at the bar are its burgers, especially its smoking burger, as well as its pizzas including one made with a vodka salsa, and following the improved rating they’ve noticed an increase in food sales which has seen the bar rise to number 16 of 295 Sunderland restaurants on Trip Advisor.

General manager Kim Ralph said: “We knew we’d do it, but getting five stars has really helped to boost staff morale. Food sales have gone up and we’re taking more bookings for table so customers have noticed the changes too.”

Kim says the bar is running a number of offers to get people back through the doors including 25 per cent off your bill if you have a ticket for that night’s Empire show, offers on pints of Amstel and Magners on match days, celebration tables in which staff deliver drinks with sparklers and bottomless brunches which includes unlimited Prosecco and other selected drinks.