FHRS Intelligence

UK University City Food Hygiene Rankings 2026: Which Student City Has the Worst Ratings?

8 min read

We ranked 30+ UK university cities by food hygiene ratings. Birmingham is the worst student city for food hygiene, with just 65.5% of businesses rated 5 stars and 547 businesses rated 0 or 1.

TLDR

  • Birmingham is the worst UK university city for food hygiene. Only 65.5% of businesses rated 5 stars.
  • Nottingham is the best. 89.2% of businesses hold a 5-star rating.
  • Liverpool, Southampton, Cardiff, and Swansea all have fewer than 70% of businesses rated 5 stars.
  • 547 food businesses in Birmingham are rated 0 or 1. In Liverpool, 109. In Manchester, 82.
  • Scotland uses a different system (FHIS) with Pass/Fail, so Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee are not included.
  • You can check any business before you eat at flux-iot.com/check.

Not all student cities are equal when it comes to food safety.

We analysed FSA food hygiene ratings data for every major university city in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The results show a massive gap between the best and worst places to eat as a student.

Birmingham ranks last. Only 65.5% of food businesses hold a 5-star rating. That is 22 percentage points behind Nottingham, the cleanest student city at 89.2%.

547 food businesses in Birmingham are currently rated 0 or 1, meaning the FSA considers their hygiene standards so poor they need urgent or major improvement. They are all still on the FSA register.

In this guide

  1. Full university city food hygiene rankings
  2. The 5 worst student cities for food hygiene
  3. The 5 best student cities for food hygiene
  4. What does a 0 rating actually mean?
  5. How to check before you eat

Full university city food hygiene rankings

We ranked every UK university city by the percentage of food businesses holding a 5-star hygiene rating. Higher is better.

| Rank | City | 5-star % | Rated 0-1 | Total businesses | |------|------|----------|-----------|------------------| | 1 | Nottingham | 89.2% | 18 | 1,124 | | 2 | Bournemouth | 87.7% | 19 | 2,129 | | 3 | Oxford | 87.9% | 3 | 428 | | 4 | Exeter | 85.8% | 4 | 456 | | 5 | Brighton | 81.9% | 23 | 2,880 | | 6 | Guildford (Surrey) | 82.2% | 6 | 718 | | 7 | Sunderland | 81.7% | 25 | 2,311 | | 8 | Cambridge | 81.1% | 21 | 2,157 | | 9 | Middlesbrough | 81.3% | 14 | 647 | | 10 | Coventry | 80.6% | 24 | 1,650 | | 11 | Canterbury | 78.8% | 2 | 1,101 | | 12 | Newcastle | 75.8% | 50 | 2,606 | | 13 | Leeds | 74.8% | 67 | 8,294 | | 14 | Lancaster | 74.8% | 12 | 865 | | 15 | Plymouth | 74.7% | 34 | 1,037 | | 16 | Belfast | 74.5% | 25 | 3,068 | | 17 | Durham | 74.4% | 15 | 2,339 | | 18 | Sheffield | 74.4% | 52 | 3,935 | | 19 | Wolverhampton | 73.7% | 75 | 1,991 | | 20 | Leicester | 72.4% | 58 | 3,425 | | 21 | York | 71.2% | 9 | 1,100 | | 22 | Bath | 71.1% | 10 | 1,004 | | 23 | Manchester | 71.1% | 82 | 2,995 | | 24 | Portsmouth | 70.5% | 58 | 1,829 | | 25 | Bradford | 70.3% | 35 | 2,979 | | 26 | Swansea | 70.0% | 31 | 2,516 | | 27 | Cardiff | 68.5% | 65 | 3,544 | | 28 | Liverpool | 67.0% | 109 | 2,661 | | 29 | Southampton | 66.9% | 15 | 1,265 | | 30 | Birmingham | 65.5% | 547 | 9,999 |

Scotland uses a different rating system called FHIS (Food Hygiene Information Scheme). It gives Pass or Improvement Required instead of 0-5 star ratings. That means Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and St Andrews are not included in these rankings.

The 5 worst student cities for food hygiene

1. [Birmingham](/guide/city/birmingham): 65.5% rated 5 stars. 547 businesses rated 0 or 1. That is more zero-rated businesses than most cities have restaurants. Birmingham ranks 273rd of 280 councils nationally.

2. [Southampton](/guide/city/southampton): 66.9% rated 5 stars. Only 1,265 businesses tracked, but the proportion failing is high.

3. [Liverpool](/guide/city/liverpool): 67.0% rated 5 stars. 109 businesses rated 0 or 1. Liverpool also had 3 rating downgrades in the last month alone.

4. [Cardiff](/guide/city/cardiff): 68.5% rated 5 stars. The worst university city in Wales. 65 businesses currently rated 0 or 1.

5. [Swansea](/guide/city/swansea): 70.0% rated 5 stars. 31 businesses rated 0 or 1.

If you are a student in any of these cities, check the rating before you order. It takes 10 seconds: flux-iot.com/check.

The 5 best student cities for food hygiene

1. [Nottingham](/guide/city/nottingham): 89.2% rated 5 stars. Only 18 businesses rated 0 or 1 out of 1,124 tracked.

2. [Oxford](/guide/city/oxford): 87.9% rated 5 stars. Only 3 businesses in the entire city rated 0 or 1.

3. [Bournemouth](/guide/city/bournemouth-christchurch-and-poole): 87.7% rated 5 stars. A large council area with 2,129 businesses, but strong hygiene standards across the board.

4. [Exeter](/guide/city/exeter): 85.8% rated 5 stars. Small city, high standards. Only 4 businesses rated 0 or 1.

5. [Brighton](/guide/city/brighton-and-hove): 81.9% rated 5 stars. 2,880 businesses tracked, 23 rated 0 or 1. A big city doing it well.

What does a 0 rating actually mean?

A food hygiene rating of 0 means 'urgent improvement necessary'. The FSA found serious problems with how the business handles food, the cleanliness of the premises, or how management controls food safety.

A rating of 1 means 'major improvement necessary'. Still a fail.

Ratings are based on three scores: food handling practices, the physical condition of the building, and confidence in management systems. Each is scored individually. A business can have good food handling but terrible management, and still get a low overall rating.

In England, displaying the rating is voluntary. A business rated 0 does not have to tell you. In Wales and Northern Ireland, display is mandatory.

All ratings are public. You can check any business at flux-iot.com/check.

How to check before you eat

Every food hygiene rating in the UK is public data. You do not need to ask the business. You do not need to look for a sticker on the door.

Search for any business, postcode, or city on our food hygiene checker. It covers all 603,000+ rated establishments in the UK and updates daily from FSA data.

You can also browse your entire city: city rankings, compare two areas, or see today's rating changes.

Data: FSA FHRS, analysis by flux-iot.com. Updated daily.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming a popular takeaway has a good rating: popularity and hygiene are not correlated
  • Trusting a sticker on the door without checking the date: ratings can be years old
  • Not checking at all: 4,115 UK businesses are rated 0 or 1 right now
Check your uni city
Look up any UK city or council area on the Flux Food Safety Guide. See ratings, compare areas, and check individual businesses.

FAQ

Why isn't Edinburgh / Glasgow included?

Scotland uses the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS), which gives Pass or Improvement Required instead of 0-5 star ratings. The two systems are not directly comparable, so we excluded Scottish cities from these rankings.

How often are ratings updated?

The FSA updates its database continuously as local authorities submit inspection results. Our data syncs daily. However, inspections themselves happen every 6 months to 3 years depending on the risk level of the business.

Can a business improve its rating?

Yes. A business can request a re-inspection after making improvements. Some businesses go from 0 to 5 within a few months. You can track rating changes on our daily changes feed at /guide/changes.

Is a 3-star rating safe?

A 3 means 'generally satisfactory'. The FSA considers 3+ to be broadly acceptable. But it means the inspector found areas that need improvement. A 5 means the inspector found nothing significant to fix.

Keep exploring

Recommended tools

Sources

← Back to all articles