Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Food inspectors in London shut down a TGI Friday’s restaurant in Covent Garden last year after finding “a catalog of hygiene offences,” including dead cockroaches and live mice.

The restaurant, at 6 Bedford Street, pleaded guilty to six offenses yesterday in Westminster Magistrates Court, and was fined 30,000 pounds ($48,642), the city’s Westminster Council said in an e-mailed statement today. Inspectors were “horrified” by what they found at the site, and the cleanup cost 60,000 pounds, the council said.

“These were appalling hygiene breaches, particularly for such a renowned restaurant chain which frankly, should have known better,” said Daniel Astaire, Westminster Council’s cabinet member for community safety.

The restaurant closed for six days in July 2008 for a cleanup following the inspection. The inspectors arrived after the council received six complaints from patrons who saw mice in the restaurant. Sixty-five rodents were trapped at the site, the council said.

Westminster Council, which includes the city’s main entertainment and shopping districts, inspects each its 5,500 restaurants and eateries every six to 18 months and shuts down around 12 a year, a spokesman said.

“This is one of the worst cases I’ve ever come across and the restaurant was virtually a breeding ground for rodents,” said the council’s environmental health manager, James Armitage.

TGI Friday’s Inc. is a unit of Minneapolis-based Carlson Companies Inc. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it takes the violations “extremely seriously” and that it has invested 200,000 pounds in the restaurant since last year.

“We employ extremely vigorous health and safety processes at all our restaurants, including regular audits from third- party independent contractors as well as external pest control services,” the company said. “On this occasion, these failed us, requiring us to re-examine our systems and processes to ensure that the highest food and hygiene standards are met and maintained.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Lysaght in London at blysaght@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 27, 2009 09:17 EDT