AN Indian restaurant forced to close when environmental health inspectors found it was infested with rats is to re-open in the next few days.

Experts decided A Taste of India, in Market Street, Adlington, represented an "immediate risk" to health earlier this month after discovering rat droppings in the toilets and signs that the rodents had been gnawing food.

A spokesman for Chorley Council's environmental health department said standards of hygiene had been so poor -- with food scraps left lying around -- that officers had not been confident rat control measures would prove effective.

He said: "The standard of cleanliness led us to believe that there was an immediate risk."

But since then owners have blocked all possible points through which the rodents might have been entering the building, and the premises have been comprehensively cleaned. Experts have now cleared the restaurant and takeaway to throw open its doors again after declaring themselves satisfied with the measures taken.

The spokesman said: "We have issued a certificate to say we are satisfied the health risk has now been removed and the restaurant will be re-opened within a couple of days. As of this morning they have a clean slate.

"The restaurant will be subject to regular and frequent inspections over the next few months."

Nobody from A Taste of India was available for comment.

The restaurant was closed by inspectors on May 7 and the closure confirmed by magistrates on May 14. The restaurant started life as a takeaway before adding a sit-down section for diners.