A high street butcher has had its food hygiene rating bumped up to a three after being re-evaluated by health inspectors.

Rotherwood Butchers in Dover was inspected by the district council in early January and given a set of urgent changes which needed to be implemented right away.

Owner Steve Rother told KentOnline the majority of the issues at the Biggin Street shop related to problems with paperwork - and he says customers can shop with confidence.

All food and drink retailers must undergo regular assessment by public health officials.

Their findings are used to produce publicly-available scores - which range from five at the top end down to zero for the worst cases.

Mr Rother, who has run the shop since 2019, said: "I don't think the zero was justified.

"It's all minor stuff in my opinion. A lot of paperwork wasn't current enough.

'We're trying to compete with the supermarkets knocking out rubbish...'

"We're the only butchers left in the high street.

"We're trying to compete with the supermarkets knocking out rubbish, we're trying to compete with that and we are holding our own quite nicely."

Speaking at the time of the zero rating, Mr Rother acknowledged some issues arose during the busy Christmas period when he was short-staffed.

He said some important paperwork was missing when the inspectors visited - and a repair to a fridge had been "botched".

Dover District Council has declined to release a copy of the report outlining any specific issues produced following the inspection.