Track & Tonic on Park End Street was rated 0 in August and Wolvercote Local 1. All 50 September ratings out so far are 5s, eight of them in Jericho in one day.
Track & Tonic, at 19 Park End Street near Oxford station, has been given a food hygiene rating of 0. That is the bottom of the scale, and it means “urgent improvement necessary”.
The inspection was on 5 August 2026. The rating has only now appeared on the Food Standards Agency register, because ratings below 5 are held back for an appeal window before they are published.
It is the first Oxford 0 on the register since April. A shop in Wolvercote was rated 1 in the same month.
What the inspectors found at Track & Tonic
Every inspection scores three areas. The register records Track & Tonic, listed as “other catering premises”, as:
- Hygienic food handling: improvement necessary
- Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: urgent improvement necessary
- Management of food safety: major improvement necessary
The building score is the worst possible mark in that area. It covers layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control as well as cleanliness.
The register carried no reply from the business on 5 October, and it did not show a new rating pending. The FSA register does not say what was found in detail. The page says anyone can ask Oxford City Council for the officer’s report, at foodsafety@oxford.gov.uk.
Wolvercote Local rated 1
Wolvercote Local, the shop at 82 Godstow Road, was rated 1, “major improvement necessary”, after an inspection on 18 August. Its three scores were:
- Hygienic food handling: generally satisfactory
- Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building: improvement necessary
- Management of food safety: major improvement necessary
So the shop was marked down hardest on its food safety systems and checks, not on how it handled food on the day. No reply from the business appears on the register.
Every rating below 5 from July and August
These are all the Oxford inspections dated July or August that have been published with a rating below 5. Scores run from 0 to 5.
| Business | Where | Inspected | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track & Tonic | 19 Park End Street | 5 August | 0 |
| Wolvercote Local | 82 Godstow Road, Wolvercote | 18 August | 1 |
| Acropolis Greek Taverna | 146 London Road, Headington | 5 August | 3 |
| Crepebox | Other caterer, OX3 | 1 July | 3 |
| Duhok News | 293 Iffley Road | 6 July | 3 |
| Ji The Chicken Shop | Westgate, Queen Street | 10 July | 3 |
| Mukja | Mobile caterer, OX2 | 6 August | 4 |
| DonDon Bowls | Other caterer, OX1 | 20 August | 4 |
| Oxford Homeless Pathways | O'Hanlon House, Luther Street | 28 August | 4 |
| Oxford Off Licence & Groceries | 48 St Clement's Street | 6 July | 4 |
| Alpha Bar | Covered Market | 14 July | 4 |
| The Oxford Cheese Company | Covered Market | 15 July | 4 |
| The Oxford Retreat | 1-2 Hythe Bridge Street | 17 July | 4 |
| Damascus Rose Kitchen | The Old Fire Station, George Street | 22 July | 4 |
| Open Door | St Clement's Family Centre, Cross Street | 23 July | 4 |
A 3 means “generally satisfactory” and a 4 means “good”. Neither is a fail.
All 50 September ratings out so far are 5s
Fifty Oxford inspections dated in September have been published. Every one scored 5, “very good”.
That figure needs care. The FSA’s guidance for businesses says a 5 can go online straight away, while ratings of 0 to 4 are published three to five weeks after the inspection. So any lower September ratings will not appear until late October.
Across the three months, 137 of the 152 published ratings were 5s. Nine were 4s, four were 3s, one was a 1 and one was a 0.
A clean day in Jericho
Inspectors spent 9 September in Jericho, and every premises they rated that day scored 5. On Walton Street alone that was:
- The Jericho Tavern, number 56
- Jude The Obscure, number 54
- The Victoria, number 90
- Raoul’s Bar, number 32
- Mamma Mia Jericho, number 102
- Manos Food Bar and Delicatessen, number 105
Two more Jericho pubs scored 5 the same day: The Old Bookbinder’s Ale House on Victor Street and The Gardeners Arms on Plantation Road.
Other September 5s include:
- in the city centre: The Crown Inn and KFC on Cornmarket Street, The Art Cafe in Bonn Square, The Castle on Paradise Street and Chaska House at Golden Cross
- in north Oxford: Taylors on Woodstock Road and its St Giles’ deli, Mamma Mia Summertown on South Parade and Vinys North on North Parade Avenue
- new University buildings: the BaxterStorey cafe at the Schwarzman Centre and the Mathematical Institute cafe, both at the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter
- in the east and south: O Portuguese on The Roundway, Sweet Moments on London Road, Headington, and Donnington Community Centre on Freelands Road
- schools and nurseries: St Philip and St James Primary School, Oxford High Junior School, Balliol Day Nursery and the Dovecote Children and Families Project in Blackbird Leys
The whole Oxford register
The register lists 1,537 premises for Oxford City Council. On 5 October, 1,369 of them held a rating:
| Rating | Premises |
|---|---|
| 5, very good | 1,191 |
| 4, good | 120 |
| 3, generally satisfactory | 32 |
| 2, improvement necessary | 11 |
| 1, major improvement necessary | 10 |
| 0, urgent improvement necessary | 5 |
That puts 87% of rated Oxford premises on a 5. Another 116 premises are awaiting their first inspection, 51 are exempt and one rating is awaiting publication.
The five premises currently rated 0 are:
- Track & Tonic, 19 Park End Street, inspected 5 August 2026
- Baweja Superstore, Abingdon Road, inspected 28 April 2026
- Peppers Burgers, 84 Walton Street, inspected 31 March 2026
- Red Star Chinese Restaurant, 187 Cowley Road, inspected 22 January 2026
- Red Sky, London Road, Headington, inspected 14 July 2025
What it means for you
- Check before you book. Search any Oxford premises on the FSA ratings site. The date of inspection is shown next to the score.
- A rating is one day’s snapshot. A business can appeal within 21 days of being told its rating, publish a right to reply next to it, or ask for a re-inspection once it has fixed the problems. The rating stands until the council inspects again.
- A 0 is not a closure. It means the inspector found problems that must be put right urgently. Closing a premises is a separate legal step.
- Report a problem. Oxford City Council’s food safety team takes complaints at foodsafety@oxford.gov.uk.
We will check the register again in early November, when September’s lower ratings should be out.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency, food hygiene rating data for Oxford City, read through the FSA’s open data API on 5 October 2026
- Food Standards Agency, Track & Tonic register entry and Wolvercote Local register entry
- GOV.UK, Food hygiene rating scheme guidance for businesses
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