Indian restaurant liked by celebs slapped with zero hygiene ranking as proprietor hits again

Holdi in Woolton, one of Liverpool’s celebrity Indian restaurants, has been hit with a zero food hygiene rating by Liverpool City Council inspectors – but the restaurant says it has resolved the issues

Holdi, one of Liverpool’s most cherished Indian restaurants and a hotspot for A-list celebrities, has been slapped with a zero food hygiene rating by health inspectors.

Located on Woolton Street in Woolton, Holdi is widely celebrated as one of the city’s top curry houses. Just last year, it was listed among the top 10 Liverpool curry houses in the English Curry Awards.

Since opening its doors in 2012, Holdi has scooped up numerous accolades, including best Indian cuisine at the Liverpool Lifestyle Awards in 2016 and 2017. The south Liverpool eatery has earned a reputation for attracting celebrity clientele, quickly becoming a go-to spot for soap stars from Hollyoaks and Coronation Street in the years following its launch.

In 2024, Holdi played host to Hollywood royalty when Elijah Wood and his Lord of the Rings co-star Billy Boyd popped in for a meal while in town for the annual Comic Con convention. Elijah reportedly told staff that the meal was the “best Indian he had ever had”.

Football luminaries such as Anthony Gordon, Harvey Elliott and Sean Dyche are all known to be regulars at the restaurant, reports the Liverpool Echo.

UFC star Paddy Pimblett is another fan of Holdi, and was recently snapped with staff at the restaurant after tucking into a meal with a group of friends earlier in September this year. Speaking to the ECHO at the time, restaurant manager Shakil Ahmed said Paddy, who has dined at Holdi more than once, was “very down to earth” and ordered the chicken tikka and lamb chops.

However, just a few days after hosting the UFC Baddy – on September 14 – Holdi in Woolton received a visit from environmental health inspectors from Liverpool City Council, who were far from impressed with what they discovered.

According to a report on the Food Standards Agency website, the inspection resulted in Holdi receiving a zero out of five rating for food hygiene, accompanied by a statement declaring that “urgent improvement is necessary”.

Owner, Najer Hossain, explained that one of the primary reasons for the dismal hygiene rating was due to electrical problems, which necessitated the use of a generator that also encountered issues. In part of his statement, Mr Hossain said: “On the night of the 13th of September, the generator had again switched off. This time due to our own carelessness of not leaving it with enough diesel, something we have been extra cautious about since.

“This had again affected the temperature of our fridge and freezers, we then had inspectors visit on the 14th, this was before we were due to open, and before any staff had arrived. As we had done previously, we realised we’d need to voluntarily close that day due to temperatures not being to the required level.

“The health inspector also saw this as a major issue, the wiring was not to a satisfactory standard going through the kitchen and windows upstairs and this affected our ability to reach certain parts of the kitchen when cleaning and had gathered food debris.

“During this time, our operational manager and main chef had been off on paternity leave at the same time. This led to some of the cleanliness of the restaurant caused by electrical works overlooked. It is important to point out we had voluntarily closed, and the inspectors had asked us to contact them again when we feel it’s safe to reopen.”

The report detailed that major improvement is necessary at the restaurant in terms of food hygiene and safety and structural compliance, while urgent improvement is required in terms of the agency’s confidence in the restaurant’s management of these areas. For this latter rating, the agency suggests there has been a “poor track record of compliance, with little or not technical knowledge, no appreciation of hazards or quality control and no food safety management system.”

Najer Hossain, owner of Holdi, said in response to the hygiene rating: “In mid August the restaurant faced some electrical issues due to work taking place. It required a rewiring of the electric coming into the restaurant, but this required a lengthy period of time as it requires approval from the council before we can partake any groundwork outside.

“Due to this, and in order for us to continue to stay open, we ordered a commercial generator to provide electricity to the restaurant. Initially after the generator had been fitted, we faced a few issues and within a couple of days this generator kept going off in the middle of the day so we decided to close the restaurant as this was affecting our fridge/freezer equipment, and we were aware it would not be safe to open to the public.

“We did this in mid-August for a week, we then asked for a replacement generator that could withhold the usage of our busy restaurant and subsequently a few days later a new generator had been fitted. This was bigger and more powerful, and we felt it was reliable enough for us to reopen.

“It caused us no issues and we were able to trade without any problems. On the night of the 13th of September, the generator had again switched off. This time due to our own carelessness of not leaving it with enough diesel, something we have been extra cautious about since.

“This had again affected the temperature of our fridge and freezers, we then had inspectors visit on the 14th, this was before we were due to open, and before any staff had arrived. As we had done previously, we realised we’d needed to voluntarily close that day due to temperatures not being to the required level.

“The health inspector also saw this as a major issue, the wiring was not to a satisfactory standard going through the kitchen and windows upstairs and this affected our ability to to reach certain parts of the kitchen when cleaning and had gathered food debris.

“During this time our operational manager and main chef had been off on paternity leave at the same time, it led to some of the cleanliness of the restaurant caused by electrical works overlooked. It is important to point out we had voluntarily closed, and the inspectors had asked us to contact them again when we feel it’s safe to reopen.

“We closed this time for just over a week, in this time we contacted our generator supplier to come in and tidy up the wiring so that it didn’t impact our ability to keep the restaurant clean, this was done within a day. We also were able to clean up the areas in the restaurant that were difficult to reach previously, provide staff with adequate health and safety training, and equip the restaurant with plenty of disinfectant and hand washes, as a couple of the smaller sinks had been missing hand wash during the inspection.

“On the 20th of September, we decided we were ready to reopen but we did not want to do this without another inspection, so after requesting a revisit [the inspector came on] the 24th September.

“They were very helpful and this time they were happy with the work that had taken place in the restaurant, and agreed everything was in very good order to begin trading again, we had actioned everything that was required of us and therefore back to being open as usual.

“This restaurant has always been a five-star star rated restaurant from previous inspections, [however] due to recent issues this has caused us a lapse in concentration in focusing on the things that matter. We are happy all staff and management have had the opportunity to retrain and we hope we are able to acquire and get back to the very high standards we hold ourselves to. We have a requested another revisit as a rescoring can only be done when a restaurant is operational, we are hopeful this will take place in a couple of weeks.

“We have done everything we can to ensure the restaurant is safe to dine in while we under go these temporary electrical issues. We have since acquired approval from the council to do the necessary work outside in order for our power supply to return back to normal. This is scheduled in to be completed by the end of October which would mean no longer having to rely on a temporary generator.”