Despite topping the league on the pitch, the food hygiene standards at King's Lynn Town FC have been in the relegation zone for some time, however fans can now feel more comfortable after a food hygiene inspection awarded the club a four rating.

During a food hygiene inspection at the club on September 3, 2019, inspectors said food handling and management of food safety at the club was good, and added that the cleanliness and condition of the building was "generally satisfactory".

A club spokesman said the reason for so many low ratings was mainly down to incorrect paperwork, and added that he was glad supporters had been understanding while the club was working to improve its food hygiene rating.

He said: "We're pretty pleased with it, in fact we're very pleased with it, if we'd have had the paperwork in place in the first place then I think we'd have had the four star rating before."

The Linnets' food offering has seen ratings of zero in its last two food hygiene inspections and the food hygiene rating at the club has been one or below since January 31, 2017. Zero ratings saw the Food Standards Agency tell it that urgent improvement was necessary.

Following one zero report in November 2018, an inspector said: "The BBQ cooking area was covered with blackened debris and grease and was not protected from contamination from pests. The gas control knobs were also very dirty."

The inspector added that chopping boards were mouldy and were being stored stacked on top of one another.

At the time, chairman Steven Cleeve said in his programme notes prior to a game against Barwell: "We have a good relationship with the council and their hygiene department and they visited the club some months ago and spoke with the head chef. They gave us a list of recommendations which I told the chef to action straight away, he did not action them."

Mr Cleeve added that he should have checked the work had been done but "sometimes there are not enough hours in the day to do everything".