A cafe was shut down after health inspectors found three dead rats on the premises.
The city council's environmental health team also found droppings throughout City Cafe, in Upperton Road, West End, Leicester, during their visit to the venue on November 21, magistrates were told.
The first rat was found in a cupboard used to store eggs and dinner plates, and another two were found in the cellar.
There were also droppings next to open food packs and inside a kitchen cupboard used to store cleaning materials.
The owner, Santokh Singh, was told the cafe would have to be shut down until the problem was dealt with.
It re-opened yesterday morning and a hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court was held later in the day to get magistrates' backing for the closure.
The court was told the closure was necessary to protect the public from diseases including salmonella, listeria and Weil's disease, that rats can transmit via their urine and droppings.
Hannah Price, representing the city council, said: "An inspection was undertaken on November 21 and the officers decided at that time there was an imminent risk to public health."
She said the officers returned to the premises on November 22 and again on Monday morning, when they found that the rat infestation had been dealt with. She said: "This hearing is to ask for a declaration from the court that an imminent risk to public health existed and that the actions taken were the appropriate ones to take."
The magistrates were handed photographs showing the corpses of dead rats as well as droppings on surfaces and even on the head of a mop found in the cafe.
Andy Woods, one of the two inspectors involved in the case, said: "On Friday, November 22, I left a list of outstanding cleaning issues and they had been addressed.
"There had been no further rat activity and all the holes had been blocked."
The magistrates agreed to make a declaration that the environmental health officers had acted properly in closing the cafe for four days.
Mr Singh, who was not present in court on Monday, was ordered to pay £678 towards the city council's costs.
