Restaurant stripped of licence after 5 people found working illegally

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

A restaurant and shisha lounge has lost its licence after five people were found working there illegally.

One person working at Lebanese Garden Lounge, in Balham, claimed they were “working for food” when interviewed by immigration officers on March 10 this year, according to a local councillor.

Wandsworth council’s licensing committee decided to strip the premises licence held by Fusion FoodHall Limited at the venue, in Balham High Road, after a review requested by the Home Office.

The committee said it felt “paying less than minimum wage” indicated Karim Ali, director of Fusion FoodHall Limited, “was aware that his employees did not have the right to work in the UK”.

At the licensing hearing on June 21, Heidi Woodham, chief immigration officer, said officers visited the restaurant on March 10 due to “intelligence suggesting that illegal working was taking place on the premises”. She asked for the licence to be revoked.

Ms Woodham said: “The occupants were cooperative during the visit. Officers encountered a total of seven persons, of which five were immigration offenders.”

She added: “They had no permission to work in the UK due to their immigration status so, as a result of that visit, a civil penalty notice was issued, which is a fine, but that is a separate matter.”

Laura Stephenson from Good Advice UK, representing Mr Ali, said stripping the licence would be “disproportionate”.

She said Mr Ali was taking the matter seriously, adding: “He has perhaps, on reflection, been naive and unsophisticated in the way that he’s handled recruitment of staff. But I wish to make clear from the outset that he did not knowingly employ anyone who did not have a right to work.”

Ms Stephenson said two of the people at the restaurant on March 10 categorised by the Home Office as illegal workers were not employees but training or on a trial shift.

Mr Ali did not know a waitress working there only had a right to work for shortage occupations, she added, while two other waiters assured him they had a right to work. Mr Ali had requested the relevant documents, she said, but had not followed up on the matter properly.

Ms Stephenson said, according to Mr Ali, all workers are paid at least minimum wage at the restaurant. She said: “I don’t suggest that things may not have been said if they are recorded, but that is not an accurate reflection of what was going on and it may be that those present gave explanations that were not accurate.” 

About the allegation people were “working for food”, she added: “I think that the gentleman who said that is one of the two gentleman who was trialling and so there wasn’t a formal arrangement in place as to his pay… but there were no arrangements by which workers were paid in food.”

In a report on the decision, the committee said members “felt that they had not been provided with an adequate explanation of the low pay which the workers reported they received to the Home Office investigating officers” and found “it was most likely that the licence holder did know that workers were being employed illegally”.

The report adds the committee “determined that there was no alternative except the full revocation of the premises licence held by Fusion FoodHall Limited”.

Pictured top: Lebanese Garden Lounge, 225 Balham High Road (Picture: Google Street View)