ONE of Costa Coffee's two shops in Devizes has been found to have serious hygiene problems.

While the chain's shop in the Market Place has the full five star hygiene rating the one the corner of Maryport Street and The Brittox has just two and has been told by Wiltshire Council it must improve.

An investigation by the Daily Mail found of all the major high street coffee chains, Costa has the most stores rated less than satisfactory and has been hit by a series of dire verdicts from health inspectors this year.

Among the horror stories were pictures of the Devizes shop which showed filthy backrooms riddled with food debris, overflowing bins and walls and floors spattered with dirty stains.

But the investigation also revealed that while 23 Costa stores were rated two-star or less by the Scores on the Doors initiative most of Costa Coffee’s 1,755 shops scored five stars, or received good or satisfactory ratings.

Costa’s managing director Jim Slater said that hygiene failings were always acted on immediately and all of the stores were checked regularly.

He said: "According to environmental health office figures 98 per cent of Costa stores score good to very good in inspections, but in our opinion anything less than a three star satisfactory rating is unacceptable and requires immediate attention.

'We would like to reassure all customers that these are isolated incidents and we have a robust system, supported by external auditors to immediately address concerns raised either by the EHO or our own checks."