An Eastbourne restaurant which was found to be employing illegal workers during a Home Office raid has lost its licence.
Kerala Flavours does not serve alcohol or open late, so it can remain open despite the loss of the licence – with the only difference being that it can no longer play music.
Its licence was revoked after the Home Office requested a review, which was heard by a licensing panel of three Eastbourne Borough councillors last week.
According to the Home Office, Immigration Enforcement visited the restaurant in June last year and discovered three “immigration offenders” working for the business.
The business was subsequently issued a £40,000 civil penalty, which was discounted to £28,000 due to early payment.
The restaurant’s owner and Designated Premises Supervisor, Md. Azim Uddin Chowdry, told councillors the business had subsequently put in place new processes to ensure potential employees were eligible to work in the UK.
He also asked councillors not to revoke the licence, saying he relied on the business for his family’s income.
Among other activities, the restaurant’s premises licence had allowed it to serve alcohol and late night refreshments — in other words hot food or drinks sold between 11pm and 5am.
During the hearing, however, councillors heard how the business was not using these elements of its licence, as it did not sell alcohol and closed no later than 10.30pm.
Mr Chowdry told councillors he wished to keep the licence in order to allow customers to bring their own alcohol on to the premises. Officers confirmed this practice did not require a premises licence.
Speaking to the LDRS after the hearing, Mr Chowdry said he also wanted to retain the licence in order to maintain the value of the business should he ever wish to sell it.
After the hearing, which took place on January 20, councillors retired to consider their decision in a closed session. The council has now published a decision notice setting out their verdict.
In this decision notice, a council spokesman said: “The sub-committee were satisfied that the relevant checks to ensure the workers concerned were eligible to work in the UK had not been undertaken.
“Further, it was not considered that the assertion that the ‘mistakes’ were innocent was credible. Nor did it consider that the bare assertion that processes were in place to ensure that checks on workers would be made in future was credible.
“In making its decision the sub-committee noted that in any case it had been informed that the premises did not undertake the licensable activities of sale of alcohol or late-night refreshments.
“Concerns were expressed that the premises licence holder did not understand the meaning of licensable activities.
“In making this decision, the sub-committee considered that its duty is to promote the licensing objectives and the prevention of illegal working in the interests of the wider community and not the interests of the licensee.
“The decision to revoke was not taken as a deterrent to other premises licence holders. Nor is the decision a sanction or a punishment to the premises licence holder.”
The panel’s decision is open to appeal through the courts.
