Hungerford restaurant in undocumented staff row is cleared following Home Office climbdown

A RESTAURANT suspected to have employed undocumented immigrants as staff is in the clear.

The u-turn came at the eleventh hour before a licensing committee was due to consider revoking its licence.

Last month the Newbury Weekly News revealed how Amore Italian Restaurant in Charnham Street was to have had its licence reviewed after officers from the Home Office Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) team, accompanied by five police officers, raided the premises.

ICE said it had discovered two people working inside "who had no right to be doing so".

A report added: "The designated premises supervisor (Lentia Veliai) was at the address and was not forthcoming with information and evasive when asked questions regarding these employees and who was responsible for hiring them.

"The business has employed people who have no right to work in the UK.

"This means no checks have been carried out on the employees therefore there is no knowledge of the person's history; this could put any member of the public at unnecessary risk.”

A meeting of West Berkshire Council’s licensing sub committee was due to hear the licence review at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning, April 25.

Thames Valley Police said in a written submission to the committee that “[we] respectfully recommend that the licensing panel revoke the licence as the only possible means to promote the licensing objectives and further support the prevention of Crime and Disorder.”

However the meeting to decide the restaurant’s fate was cancelled on Monday.

A spokeswoman for West Berkshire Council’s Public Protection Partnership (PPE) said: “The Home Office decided to withdraw their application to review the licence.

“They notified us within the requisite timescales this morning [Monday].”

The climbdown came after district councillors James Cole and Claire Rowles (both Con, Hungerford and Kintbury) intervened on behalf of the family business.

Mr Cole said the restaurant management was able to provide proof that it had acted in good faith throughout.

Following the advice from the district councillors, licence holder Ekrem Uka provided documentation which suggested the staff members at the centre of the controversy had the right to work while their immigration statues was being considered under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Mr Cole said: “The restaurant certainly seems popular in Hungerford and their business suffered from this.

“We were glad to help them get this straightened out.”