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Vuong Quoc Nguyen

Restaurant owner pleads guilty over droppings and cockroaches

A RESTAURANT owner has pleaded guilty to food hygiene offences after inspectors found mice droppings and live cockroaches in his premises.

Vuong Quoc Nguyen, 47, was previously accused of storing dog meat in a freezer in Pho Na restaurant at 899 Old Kent Road, New Cross.

However prosecutors have now dropped that charge and Nguyen has changed his not guilty plea to five other food hygiene offences to guilty.

On Thursday – the day his trial was due to start – he admitted he had stored meat wrapped in unlabelled leaves in his restaurant.

He also pleaded guilty to being unable to prove the source of an “animal origin” product – and to failing to comply with a food hygiene improvement notice.

Vuong Quoc Nguyen
PICTURED: A charge over “dog meat” at Nguyen’s restaurant was dropped by prosecutors

Bromley Magistrates Court heard there were previous problems with pests and the traceability of food products – which were not what they were claimed to be – at the restaurant before Nguyen took over in 2023. 

Nguyen’s defence team said he left Vietnam and came to the UK as a “political refugee” in 2007.

He applied for refugee status after arriving in Britain but this was refused. He later had a child in the UK and was allowed to stay, the court heard.

Google Maps exterior of Pho Na
PICTURED: Pho Na restaurant has now closed down (Credit: Google Street View)

In 2023 he received a visa which entitled him to work and shortly afterwards borrowed £7,000 from friends to buy Vietnam Street Food Limited – the company behind Pho Na.

The previous owner of the company was Thuy Thanh Thi Nguyen, according to Companies House. Records show the firm was finally dissolved in October this year.

Pho Na has shut down and been replaced with a new Vietnamese restaurant called Dac San Xu Nghe, which is run by Hung Van Nguyen.

Dac San Xu Nghe
PICTURED: A new Vietnamese restaurant has replaced Pho Na

Prosecutors are seeking more than £19,000 in legal costs over the case. 

Judge Turnock adjourned sentencing to give the defence time to provide evidence of Nguyen’s finances. 

The judge asked for bank documents to help her decide on a financial penalty and costs order.

Nguyen will return to Bromley Magistrates Court on January 26.