A Cardiff Restaurant Kept Trading During an Active Cockroach Infestation

On September 2, 2026, Motiur Rahman, the owner of a Cardiff restaurant trading as Spice Kitchen Ltd, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates' Court to food hygiene offences after an investigation by Cardiff Council's Shared Regulatory Services (SRS). The case centered on a straightforward but serious finding: the business was continuing to trade and serve food while an active cockroach infestation was present on the premises.

How the case came together

According to reporting on the case, officers first visited the premises in October 2024 following a tip-off, at which point it was trading under a different name (Delhi Cuisine) and was found operating during the active infestation. The business later reopened under a new trading name, Grand Sylhet, and a follow-up inspection in January 2025 identified further problems, including issues with hot water and handwashing facilities — both basic requirements for safe food handling under UK food hygiene law. The combination of the original infestation finding and the subsequent hygiene issues formed the basis of the prosecution that concluded in September 2026.

What the penalty actually broke down to

The court imposed penalties on both Rahman personally and his company. Rahman was fined £240, ordered to pay £200 in costs, and given a £96 victim surcharge. Spice Kitchen Ltd was fined £2,000, ordered to pay a further £200 in costs, and given an £800 victim surcharge. Combined, the total came to just over £3,500 — the figure widely reported in coverage of the sentencing.

Why regulators treat this as more than a hygiene technicality

Cardiff Council's Shared Regulatory Services has been explicit in past statements on similar cases that cockroaches found on food premises carry a direct disease-transmission risk, specifically naming Salmonella and E. coli as bacteria cockroaches can carry that are capable of causing food poisoning. In a separate, earlier Cardiff Crown Court case involving a different takeaway, the council stated that customers could have been placed at risk of salmonella, E. coli, and typhoid fever as a result of a cockroach infestation on the premises. That framing is consistent with established public health guidance generally: cockroaches are recognized as a disease vector capable of mechanically carrying and spreading harmful bacteria picked up from drains, waste, and other unsanitary surfaces onto food-contact areas, which is exactly why food-safety regulators treat an active infestation as grounds for immediate enforcement action rather than a routine citation.

Part of a recurring enforcement pattern in Cardiff

This case isn't an isolated one for Cardiff's Shared Regulatory Services. Separate reporting on the council's enforcement activity describes earlier prosecutions involving a different Riverside takeaway, where the owner was ordered to pay over £1,000 after pleading guilty to eight food hygiene offences, and another Cardiff restaurant owner who received a suspended four-month sentence after ignoring a pest-control-related closure request. Taken together, the pattern reflects a regulatory service that has continued to pursue court action against food businesses specifically over unresolved pest infestations, rather than relying solely on routine hygiene-rating inspections.

• Motiur Rahman and his company, Spice Kitchen Ltd, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on September 2, 2026 to food hygiene offences tied to an active cockroach infestation.
• Combined penalties (fines, costs, and victim surcharges) for Rahman and the company totaled just over £3,500.
• The case originated from an October 2024 inspection following a tip-off; the business later reopened under a new name and still had hygiene issues (hot water, handwashing) found in a January 2025 follow-up inspection.
• Cardiff Council's Shared Regulatory Services has stated in this and related cases that cockroaches can carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli, with one earlier case citing salmonella, E. coli, and typhoid fever as risks to customers.
• The prosecution is one of several similar food-hygiene enforcement actions brought by Cardiff's Shared Regulatory Services against restaurants over pest infestations in recent years.

Cases like this are a reminder that a cockroach sighting in a food-service setting is treated as a genuine public health issue by regulators, not just an appearance problem. For any property — commercial or residential — dealing with ongoing cockroach activity, a free Sevacorp inspection can help identify the actual extent of the problem before deciding on treatment.

• Sources:
• Nation.Cymru — "Restaurant owner ordered to pay thousands over cockroach infestation" — https://nation.cymru/news/restaurant-owner-ordered-to-pay-thousands-over-cockroach-infestation/
• The Caterer — "Cardiff restaurant operator fined more than £20,000 over hygiene offences" — https://www.thecaterer.com/news/cardiff-restaurant-operator-fined-more-than-20000-over-hygiene-offences
• Barfblog — "Restaurant owner in Wales continued to serve food despite cockroach infestation" — https://barfblog.com/?p=203499
• Barfblog — "Salmonella-carrying cockroaches in Cardiff City Road restaurant" — https://barfblog.com/?p=202727