Food hygiene training · Nottingham

Food hygiene training in Nottingham

Nottingham’s independents cluster around Hockley and the Lace Market, Old Market Square fills with food stalls through the year, and Goose Fair brings hundreds of traders into the city each October. The Food Standards Agency lists 3,042 food businesses. Good Food Hygiene trains their staff online, CPD-standard, in 14 languages, with the certificate issued as soon as they pass.

3,042 food businesses on the FSA register 90% of rated businesses hold a 5 Inspected by Nottingham City Council

A small list with a very high standard

Nottingham’s 3,042 businesses are led by 655 shops selling food, 599 restaurants, cafés and canteens, 449 in other catering and 419 takeaways and sandwich shops. Two large universities keep the city-centre trade busy in term time and quiet outside it, and the 106 mobile caterers and street food traders on the list work the squares, festivals and fairs rather than a fixed site.

The high proportion of shops and other catering means a lot of food is handled by people who would not call themselves chefs: deli counters, bakery staff, contract caterers, event crews. They need the same food hygiene training as a restaurant kitchen. Nottingham also has 186 hospitals, nurseries and care homes and 145 schools, colleges and universities, where every handler needs food hygiene training and the supervisor needs supervisor training, and where an inspector will ask to see certificates for the whole team rather than a sample.

The strongest scores on this list

Nottingham stands out. Of the 2,678 businesses that have been rated, 2,396 hold a 5, which is 89.5%, the highest share of any city on this site using the 0 to 5 scheme. Only 49 sit on 0, 1 or 2, or 1.8%, and 2 are on 0. Far fewer businesses are parked on a 4 than elsewhere, at 176, so the city is largely top-scoring or nothing. That sets the expectation: in Nottingham anything below a 5 is conspicuous, and management confidence is usually what separates them. (Food Standards Agency ratings data, September 2026.)

Hygiene ratings in Nottingham

Rated 52,39689.5%
Rated 41766.6%
Rated 3572.1%
Rated 2150.6%
Rated 1321.2%
Rated 020.1%

2,678 premises with a published result; a further 236 are registered but awaiting their first inspection.

What kind of food businesses

Shops selling food655
Restaurants, cafés and canteens599
Other catering449
Takeaways and sandwich shops419
Pubs, bars and clubs240
Hospitals, nurseries and care homes186

Source: Food Standards Agency ratings data, September 2026, for Nottingham City. Figures move as new inspections are published. A rating is the inspector's decision and Good Food Hygiene cannot predict it.

Nottingham City Council and how to register

Nottingham City Council’s food enforcement team inspects food businesses across the city under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Register at least 28 days before you open. It is free and cannot be refused. Contact [email protected] or use www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/foodsafety. Note that the city council covers the city itself, so a business in Beeston or West Bridgford registers with its own borough council instead. Display of the sticker is voluntary in England, but in a city where 2,396 businesses hold a 5, not showing one invites the question.

Training for Nottingham kitchens, online

Ten CPD-standard courses from £15: Food Hygiene Levels 1 to 3, HACCP, Food Allergy Awareness, Health & Safety, First Aid, Manual Handling, COSHH and Equality & Diversity. Every course is complete in 14 languages, works on a phone, and ends with a certificate the inspector can check online. There is a free taster of each, so a Nottingham business can try one before training the whole team.

The paid courses are with CPD for accreditation review and are not yet open to new enrolments. The free taster courses are open now.

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Nottingham questions

Do Goose Fair and city square traders need food hygiene certificates?

Event organisers and Nottingham City Council will expect food hygiene training from anyone handling open food on a pitch, and the unit must be registered as a food business. Nottingham has 106 mobile caterers and street food traders on the Food Standards Agency list, and officers do visit events. Carry the certificate and your temperature records with the unit.

Is my business inspected by Nottingham City Council or another council?

It depends where you actually trade. Nottingham City Council covers the city, while a business in Beeston, West Bridgford or Arnold is inspected by the borough council it sits in. Register with the authority for your premises at least 28 days before you open. If you are unsure which one that is, the council’s food safety pages will tell you.

Nottingham has a lot of 5s. Does that make an inspection harder?

Not harder, but more visible. Of the businesses rated in the city, 2,396 hold a 5 and only 176 sit on a 4, so a middling score stands out both on the street and online. Officers apply the same national criteria everywhere. What differs is that your customers here are used to seeing a top score in the window.

What does a Nottingham deli or bakery counter need beyond a food safety system?

Trained people. Anyone slicing, filling or serving open food needs food hygiene training, even if the shop is not a kitchen. Nottingham has 655 shops selling food on the list, more than it has restaurants. Whoever writes and reviews the food safety management system should have supervisor training, and both certificates should be in the file.