A CURRY house chain with ambitions for global expansion has been fined £40,000 after a live cockroach was discovered nestling in the poppadums by a diner at its principal restaurant.

Inspectors found that the Shere Khan restaurant in Rusholme, along Manchester’s “curry mile”, was a breeding ground for the insects, which hid in gaps in wall and ceiling joints. In May the company was fined £30,000 for breaches of food safety laws at another of its Manchester branches, at the Trafford Centre.

The Shere Khan chain is regarded as a personal success story for its founder, Nighat Awan, 52. Ms Awan, whose personal fortune is estimated at £35 million, started in business aged 18 printing Bay City Rollers T-shirts in her father’s factory. In 1987 she opened the first Shere Khan and has built a company worth £300 million. She was appointed OBE in 2004 for her entrepreneurial and charity work.

The company, based in Hale Barns, Cheshire, recently opened its first drive-through takeaway and announced plans to open ten restaurants in shopping malls in the Far East.

In a visit to the restaurant last December, the inspectors found that the cockroaches had made their way into sacks of stored rice and were crawling across the floor. A wash basin meant for staff was filthy, and there were no washing or drying materials.

Elsewhere, the inspectors discovered a soup of grease, dirt and food debris squashed between the joints in the floor. Utensils were dirty, a plate rack was rusted and chopping boards were encrusted with old food.

Jonathan Evans, for the prosecution, told magistrates in Manchester that shelving in a walk-in fridge was dirty. There were open food containers, in contravention of hygiene regulations, and the floor had been lined with dirty and greasy cardboard containers.

Mr Evans said that the hygiene problems were so serious that the inspectors told the owners that they would shut the restaurant unless they volunteered to do so themselves, which they agreed to do.

Shere Khan Restaurants admitted eight breaches of food saftey law and were fined the maximum £5,000 for each offence. The court also ordered the company to pay legal costs of £1,726.

Barry Holland, for Shere Khan Restaurants, acknowledged that the company had allowed its standards to slip. He said: “The restaurant is part of a big group and the senior management’s eye was taken off the ball with the day-to-day handling of the business.”

He said that there had been changes in staff and a new managing director had authorised spending of £30,000 to put the problem right so that the restaurant could reopen.

The company is appealing against the £30,000 fine for offences at the Trafford Centre branch.

A spokesman said that the Rusholme restaurant had been deep cleaned and that regular pest control inspections were now carried out. “As soon as we became aware of the severity of the problems we engaged specialist contractors who were willing to work through the night to refurbish the kitchen and install new flooring and equipment,” he said.

“Shere Khan Restaurants Ltd takes the welfare of its customers very seriously. The instances on which judgment was passed were based on a situation of almost a year ago. We are confident that anyone examining the restaurant today would find it to be an exemplary environment.”

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