Mouse droppings were found at a restaurant in the centre of Bradford, a Court heard.

The discovery was made when two environmental health officers from Bradford Council were carrying out a routine check at the Po Sing Chinese Restaurant in Bank Street last September.

During their inspection, they saw mouse droppings between a gas cooker and a dumb waiter, and on a shelf in a plate-warming cabinet.

Bradford magistrates heard how the officers also came across dirt on shelves, on the kitchen floor, and on a chopping board.

Pre-cooked ducks were being stored in a dirty cardboard box while paint on the kitchen ceiling was flaking.

The restaurant was then closed because it was felt there was an 'imminent risk to health'.

After owner Tin Sang Lee was advised to clean up the premises, he made a number of improvements. Those included cleaning the plate-warming cabinet, the microwave and the shelves in the food store room area.

But officers on their return found mouse droppings near bins, on the floor, behind a freezer and under a steel table near the dumb waiter.

Lee, of Hinchcliffe Avenue, Baildon, pleaded guilty to five breaches under the Food Safety Act 1990.

Mitigating, Paul Fitzpatrick told the court that when Lee took over the running of the restaurant from his brother during the late 1990s he was making a profit.

But he said Lee then began to lose money because the proposed redevelopment of the Forster Square area had an impact on his business.

Mr Fitzpatrick added Lee - who was robbed and shot last year when he was followed home with the takings - was not cutting corners on food safety so that more money was going into his pocket.

He told the court it was ''more of a case of a man swimming against the tide and slowly drowning''.

The case was adjourned after magistrates decided to commit the case to Bradford Crown Court for sentence.

The date for that hearing has yet to be fixed.