An award-winning UK curry house popular with stars like Take That and Cliff Richard (are they stars? – dp) was closed down after health inspectors discovered it was crawling with cockroaches.

The Maharaja in Birmingham was named the UK’s Best Indian Restaurant in the 1996 Egon Ronay Awards.

But its celeb clientele were forced to get their korma fix elsewhere after the eaterie was closed down by environmental health officers.

An inspection of the city centre restaurant found it was overrun with cockroaches.

Investigators even found the bugs hiding in a sieve and their feces in an open yoghurt pot.
The Maharaja was closed down for several weeks and owner Nachhattar Batt, 69, ordered to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Tharan Biring told the court inspectors were stunned by what they found – revealing Batt had been warned in the past that he had an insect infestation.

Batt admitted two counts of breaking hygiene regulations and was fined £2,000.