Norwich has been dubbed the "third least hygienic night out" as data reveals less than half of city venues hold a five star food hygiene rating.

Data from the Food Standards Agency shows only 44.83pc of the clubs, bars and pubs across the city hold the top score.

The rest have four stars or less, and a worrying amount have three or under — a fact Norwich City Council said it is working hard to address.

Of the four most central Norwich postcodes, venues with four stars or less overtake those with five stars in NR2. The same is true a bit further afield in NR4.

However the city's "clubbing district" bucks the trend, with 23 venues in NR1 holding five star ratings and 19 with four stars or less.

In Prince of Wales Road, nine venues currently hold a five-star rating.

These include 9 Bar, Compleat Angler, Fetch, Qube, Mojo's, Popworld, Pure Gold, Reload, Sugar and Spice.

A Norwich City Council spokeswoman said the city was fortunate to have a "large majority" of food premises that are rated three and above.

She added: "Our standard inspection programme has experienced some delays due to the pandemic and we're currently busy working through the 300 plus new food businesses registered since April 2020.

"We are focussing on these premises, as well as continuing to work with those that currently have a rating of two or below, and investigate any food complaints that come through to us."

Warrick Swift, commercial director of Property Inspect - which gathered the data - said a poor hygiene rating would almost certainly damage business.

He explained: "Our findings show venues with a hygiene rating below three could lose 34pc of their customers, so getting on top of cleaning practices as a pub, club or bar is vital to survival — especially since the beginning of the pandemic.

"Tracking cleaning processes and providing transparent information for customers is essential to adding peace of mind for people as we learn to live with Covid.

"Our findings show Norwich is the third least hygienic night out in the UK."