Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Two restaurants have temporarily shut at a Liverpool shopping centre due to concerns over mice.

Nando's and Yo! Sushi voluntarily closed to customers on Wednesday.

It follows the reopening of Las Iguanas and Zizzi on Monday after they voluntarily shut last week over similar concerns, Liverpool City Council said.

A Liverpool One spokesman said the shopping centre was reviewing "all pest control procedures".

The centre's branch of Red Hot World Buffet appeared in court on Thursday for allegedly breaching hygiene rules and is due to stand trial at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on 17 May.

The restaurant temporarily closed last year because mice were said to be on the premises.

Chris Bliss, estate director at Liverpool One, said the shopping centre was working closely with its occupants and Liverpool City Council "to ensure high standards of hygiene".

"We have more than 50 cafes, bars and restaurants at Liverpool One, the majority of which have been awarded the top rating of five stars by the council's environmental health officers," he said.

Councillor Steve Munby said the council thinks there may be a "design feature" common to the premises affected that causes a "weakness" and "makes them vulnerable" to this sort of problem.

"The way they're built is that Liverpool One provides a box, within that box the tenant, the restaurant or whoever, builds another box and the infestation gets into the lining between the two boxes.

"What you need to have is some degree of access from the inside box into the lining to monitor for infestation and take steps to deal with it.

"Obviously they haven't been on top of things," he said.

The affected restaurants occupy the same floor at the shopping centre.

A spokesman for Yo! Sushi said they were "co-operating fully with the team at Liverpool One in their investigations and supporting them with any immediate remedial action they can implement".

A Nando's spokeswoman added: "We take health and safety very seriously at Nando's. As this is an issue affecting other areas of the shopping centre, we are working very closely with the centre management to resolve it as soon as possible."