Dunmow Restaurant is granted new licence by council committee after raid

A restaurant which was found to have been employing illegal workers after multiple raids, has been granted a licence to sell alcohol again.

The Queen Victoria, in Dunmow, had its premises licence revoked in September last year after a raid in July in which four people suspected of working illegally were found.

The business was also raided in 2013, 2014 and 2016 with illegal workers found on each occasion.

However, the business lodged an application for a new premises licence earlier this year and a licensing and environmental health committee heard on July 18 that a change in management had taken place.

Objecting to the application, heard at Uttlesford District Council, Essex Police pointed out that the application was made in the name of Fazlul Bari Choudhury, who was a director of the company which owned the restaurant during the time of the raids, and continued to be a director.

The police report read: "The premises recent history under the leadership of the very same persons demonstrates that there have been no lessons learnt and this is merely an attempt to get the applicant's own way."

However, the applicant's solicitor, David Dadds, assured the committee that lessons had been learnt. He said that business founders, Ziaul Islam Chowdhury and Omar Shorif, in the past were responsible for the day to day running and were responsible for employment. However, both had now left the business and their shares had been liquidated, Mr Dadds said.

"There's an acceptance that Mr Choudhury [the applicant] ought to have had more influence over his partners and more involvement," he said, explaining that the business was now run by the applicant and his family.

Explaining their decision, the committee said: "We still have concerns regarding the history of these premises. This is not a new business: the applicant is, was, and remains, a director of Aldbrook Ltd. He now apparently works full time in the business and so too, we understand, does his wife: the intended designated premises supervisor is their son and we are concerned that he might not be able to resist parental pressure to cut corners.

"However, as Mr Dadds has said, this is a new application and the applicants have been trained by him. We can but hope that that training will stick."

forward the police will keep an eye on these premises, and if there is any failure to adequately promote the licensing objectives, then the matter will come back before us."