A popular fish restaurant in West Hampstead has been awarded a zero food hygiene rating after inspectors found major improvement was needed in every area they checked.
The Wet Fish Cafe in West End Lane was visited by Camden Council inspectors on 2 October, who ruled that “major improvement” was needed in all three areas of food hygiene.
Those areas are the hygienic handling of food, including preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling and storage; the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building, including ventilation, hand-washing facilities and pest control; and the management of food safety, meaning the systems and checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat.
Food hygiene ratings are not a guide to food quality. A zero rating is the lowest score on the Food Standards Agency’s scale, which runs from zero to five.
The cafe has been a fixture of West End Lane for more than two decades. Between 1917 and 1989 the shop at 242 West End Lane operated as a fishmongers under various names. For a while it was a sandwich shop called The Art of Food, but in 2003 The Wet Fish Cafe was founded by Canadian owner André Millodot, alongside partners Anel and Wayne, as a brasserie, music venue and cafe.
Millodot stripped back decades of paint and plaster to reveal the 1930s Art Deco wall tiles beneath and the original shop sign. Serving dishes such as mussels in a creamy fennel sauce, seafood pasta and wild Cornish cod in batter, the cafe has been popular among West Hampstead residents, with Dame Emma Thompson, who grew up and still lives in the neighbourhood, name-checking it as one of her favourite dining spots to eat out with friends.
After 23 years at the helm, Millodot sold The Wet Fish Cafe in September 2025 to Payam Tamaskanizahedi, who opened a second location in Primrose Hill in May. The Gloucester Avenue site runs as a cafe and pizzeria alongside serving signature seafood dishes, brunch classics and evening dinners.
A local resident wrote on the Nextdoor app that the West Hampstead cafe had closed temporarily after the inspection. “I had planned to go there for dinner, only to turn up and find it closed,” she wrote. “Apparently, it had been shut for around 15 days. I was genuinely curious to know why, so I asked if anyone had any information or confirmation from official sources.”
“The restaurant has since reopened following refurbishment, and today I’ve checked the official Food Standards Agency website. The latest hygiene rating is now officially published zero. I have to say I am absolutely appalled,” she added.
One person replied to the post: “What a shame. This place has been such a great part of West End Lane for decades. Hope customers will give them another chance.” Another wrote: “It was not cheap there either.”
The Wet Fish Cafe has been contacted for comment.
The zero rating comes as hundreds of food businesses across London hold the lowest score, with Newham, Ealing and Waltham Forest recording the worst rates in the capital. West Hampstead has also been in the news recently after a person was found on the tracks at West Hampstead Thameslink station and taken to hospital.
