The owner of a spicy curry house said it had cost £10k to fix food hygiene problems at the restaurant after the old owners “cocked it up”.

Ramnarraj Rajaratnam, the former owner of Spice House in Tolworth Broadway, admitted a string of food safety offences when he appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ court last week.

The offences, including dirty food storage areas and grease-stained walls and ceilings, date back to February this year.

New owner Ainharan Mahadevan said: “We took it over in April or the end of March from the old owners.

“It is something we haven’t done ourselves, hence the reason we spent £10k just on the stuff we were asked to do.

“These guys before us cocked it up and gave up.”

His predecessor Mr Rajaratnam, who had no food hygiene training, pleaded guilty to five charges under food hygiene regulations.

He was ordered to pay out more than £2,500 after council health officers found dirty food storage areas and grease-stained walls and ceilings on three visits.

The council had given him notice to clean up beforehand but he failed to do so between the first visit in September 2012 and February this year.

Since it came under new ownership Spice House hosted a chilli challenge competition in which Surrey Comet editor David Rankin came second.