A Holbeach restaurant has lost its alcohol licence after a hearing at South Holland District Council on Tuesday.
The Chameli Indian Tandoori was employing staff who were not permitted to work in this country.
“The designated premises supervisor in his own words, held his hands up,” says the decision record of the licensing committee.
“Employing illegal workers is not a victimless crime and may result in non-payment of taxes, potential exploitation of workers and the obtaining of an unfair advantage over other businesses,” the ruling says.
“It is well documented that premises may face challenges in the near future in terms of rising energy prices and inflation, and the panel could not be satisfied that the premises would never resort to employing illegal workers again if it faced difficult conditions,” it continued.
Members of the panel of the licensing committee felt there were no additional conditions to the licensing which would work and the ‘only appropriate’ decision was to revoke the licence.
Lincolnshire’s Chief Constable Chris Haward had requested that the licence be revoked at the hearing.
“Police have obtained evidence which indicates that the management of these premises has been operating in such a manner that amounts to criminal activity and thus undermines the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and order,” said the document.
Staff were also found to be living on the first floor of the premises, which was not registered as a house of multiple occupation.
The licence holder, Abu Rasel, was previously a director of Tulip Tandoori in Spalding. The company went into liquidation after it was fined and he was banned from being a company director for six years in 2016.
The county’s fire service also expressed concerns around risk at the premises.
