A SUPERMARKET has been slammed in a damning report after health inspectors found its premises covered in chemical leaks, grease and dirt.

A report from environmental health chiefs, who inspected Sainsbury's customer cafe, said major improvements were necessary and gave it a food hygiene rating of 1 out of 5.

Inspectors from the environmental health partnership of Fareham and Gosport councils visited the eatery in the Sainsbury's superstore in Fareham following a complaint from a member of the public over the conditions in the cafe.

According to Environmental Health officers, the café’s boiler had been broken for several weeks and there was an issue with the hot water.

Staff had instead been using handwashing units, hot water urns and buckets to wash with.

There were debris and rubbish under the cooking range, fryers and ovens, and the area required a thorough clean including the floor and walls.

The inspection found grease and drip marks running down the sides of the fryers and cooking ranges and that the fridges all required cleaning.

Flooring under the dishwasher was dirty and stained and pipes were stained a green-blue colour which the inspectors believed was from a leaking chemical dispenser on the wall above.

Similarly, a "dirty" bottle of cleaning chemicals stored under the cooking range was found leaking onto the kitchen floor.

Following the inspections that took place on July 2 and July 4, the Environmental Health officer recommend that "more attention was required" to clean the kitchen and counter areas of the cafe.

They added that a new boiler needed to be installed as a "matter of urgency" to allow the store to have a constant supply of hot water.

The cafe hold's a two-and-a-half star rating on review site TripAdvisor.

One of the latest reviews said: "Very disappointing and unlikely to return. We have been using this cafe for many years and have always found it friendly and fairly efficient. Today’s visit was pretty near atrocious - slow service taking over 15-minutes to get served - dirty tables - trolleys for customers to stack trays overflowing - staff who didn’t appear trained to do their jobs. Really hope that this isn’t a sign of things to come and that the cafe rapidly returns to how it has been until recently."

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We can reassure customers the issues which were raised have been addressed to ensure the café meets the high standards our customers rightly expect.”