Christmas revellers are being encouraged to check out the local takeaway they might dive into after a night out drinking.

While most workers will probably now have attended a Christmas do, plenty of party-goers and drinkers will be enjoying a night in the pubs over the Christmas period and then going on for something to eat afterwards.

"This is a good time to check out our Scores On The Doors website which reveals how many stars a food outlet has been awarded by Environmental Health," said Bradford Council's environmental health manager David Clapham.

The website gives the public a chance to see the results of hygiene inspections before they use restaurants, pubs, cafes and anywhere else where food is cooked such as school and hospital kitchens. They are scored from zero to five on their hygiene standards.

The scheme also offers a text service which is ideal for those visiting food premises on impulse, such as on a night out.

People can text SOTD followed by the business name and the town to 60060 and then a reply will be sent with the score on.

The information is posted on the website www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk.

Currently there are 1,808 establishments in Bradford, with 60 given a no star rating. On the flip side 322 premises gained five star status.

The website was launched in June and has been constantly updated as new inspections are carried out.

To score highly, food premises have to maintain good standards, keep the premises clean and know how to produce safe food all the time. If an inspector makes a random visit and standards have dropped, so will the rating.

Inspections are made every six months, annually or every 18 months depending on the score a restaurant receives and the score stays on the website until the next inspection.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for the environment, said: "The Scores on the Doors website has been hugely successful with about 4,000 a week using it.

"It is also encouraging low-scoring businesses to work with our Environmental Health officers to improve their hygiene and their star rating."