A CHINESE takeaway in Bradford has been closed down after environmental health officers discovered a cockroach infestation.

More than 120 of the pests were found at China Wings when Bradford Council paid a visit.

The cockroaches were in a trio of three-inch square-sized traps at the takeaway on Mannville Terrace, off Morley Street, in Bradford's student area.

Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court heard today that officers from the Council served a closure notice on the business last Friday, before making a follow-up visit on Monday to ensure the owners were aware of their court date.

However, China Wings was unrepresented in court and the chairman of the magistrates' bench accepted there was a cockroach infestation, branding the shop a "health risk".

Martin Grimshaw, an environmental health officer at the Council, told the court that he had noticed two cockroaches when he paid a visit to the shop last Thursday. He arranged to visit the following day, and he found the infestation in the three traps, leading to the notice being posted through the shop's letterbox at 4.30pm.

"I found rather a lot of cockroaches on each of the traps," said Mr Grimshaw, who also told how he took photographs of food on the premises that was open to contamination.

He added: "The concern is that there is a cockroach infestation at the premises and it is inappropriate to operate whilst that is the case."

The closure notice - which had China Wings, Adnan Rahim, Mohammed Shafiq and Adnan Ashraf named on it - stated there was "cockroach activity within the kitchen food preparation and cooking area, and the storage area".

It also stated: "During visits on October 2 and 3, I noted live and dead cockroaches in the kitchen and storage areas, and your pest control company had laid monitoring traps on which cockroaches were found."

Councillor Val Slater, the Council’s executive member with responsibility for environmental health, said: "When a serious case of cockroach infestation is identified such as this, Bradford Council has to act as quickly as possible to get the premises closed to protect the health of the public."

Environmental health officers from the Council will continue to monitor the situation, said a spokesman for the authority, who added that the food business operator would have to apply in writing for the business to re-open, which would only be allowed to happen once the imminent risk to health has been removed.