A CHASTISED Chinese takeaway hopes to win back customers' confidence after turning around a poor hygiene score in rapid time.

House of Tim scored a one-star rating after inspectors found a risk of wire wool making its way into food, dirty floors and staff not washing their hands on a visit in December.

But in less than four months, a full kitchen refurbishment, staff re-training and extensive cleaning has impressed Oxford City Council environmental health officers who gave the restaurant a five-star score.

Kelly Zhao, who manages the Rose Hill takeaway, said she hoped the rating would re-establish her reputation in the area.

She said: "We have a good reputation for our food and its quality, which has always been high.

"We don't want our customers to lose confidence in us and our food and we worked very hard to get the five-star rating.

"Some people I think were scared because they saw the rating and we want to encourage them to come back and encourage more Chinese food lovers too.

"We always want feedback from our customers as well on how we are doing."

Council officers also criticised the establishment after finding no evidence staff had been trained.

Rhe state of the kitchen was also slammed after inspectors found rice in cracks in the floor, a freezer lid needing to be taped shut and a damaged wall.

The council gave management two months to make improvements

And, after a report appeared in the Oxford Mail, the House of Tim team set about putting things right.

Mrs Zhao said: "It was January when it was in the paper and I don't think many restaurants would be able to turn it around as quickly as we have.

"The officer gave us a list of things to improve and we took it very seriously.

"We had to close for a few days for the works but we now have a completely refurbished kitchen."

The council gave management two months to make several 'immediate' improvements and re-inspected at the end of March.

Head chef Mengcan Zhao said: "Everyone has now been trained and we have a new date labelling system to ensure a first in, first out policy and we are up to speed with our temperature controls and recording all the information.

"We had a lot of helpful advice and it was a very proud and happy moment for the whole team when we found out we had the five-star rating."