A POPULAR city centre wine bar is 'back where it needs to be' after shaking off a zero rating to return to the highest hygiene standards.

The 1855 wine bar in Oxford's Castle Quarter was stuck with a zero rating for more than a year after failing to request a follow up inspection.

Management voluntarily closed the bar and Oxford City Council environmental health officers issued urgent orders to fix the problems at the beginning of 2016.

The problems were resolved by April that year but an 'admin error' meant the team didn't request a new score for another twelve months leaving their official scores as zero.

Inspectors visited earlier this year and owner Chris Mulhall said the new rating now reflected the bar's standards.

He said: "We are back to where we need to be now.

"We addressed the issues immediately and when the council came back out to re-inspect and gave us five.

"It was a cock-up on our part - an admin error."

At one point the swanky wine bar, which also serves cheeses, cured meats and salads, was one of only five place serving food in the county - out of 5,416 - to hold a zero score.

It is highly rated on TripAdvisor with an average 4.5 out of five score with customers regularly praising its service as well as its food and drink offering.

The bar sits in Oxford's Castle Quarter which is home to a number of other five-star restaurants such as Slug and Lettuce, Pizza Express, Malmaison, Prezzo and the Swan and Castle pub.

At the original visit inspectors discovered there was no hot water at the premises and that the dating system for food was 'unclear' - the Confit Duck had been recorded as a use-by date and then a best-before date and then finally with dotting system.

Management responded and fixed the hot water and devised a clearer dating system and re-opened shortly afterwards but the zero rating remained for more than a year.

Inspectors returned in March this year and the new score was published the following month.