Lebanese Taverna Express Keeps Licence Despite Illegal Worker
Home Office wanted harsher sanction for Fulham Palace Road venue
Lebanese Taverna Express on Fulham Palace Road
October 5, 2026
A restaurant in Hammersmith has had its licence suspended for a month after an illegal worker was caught by Government officers.
The worker, a kitchen porter at Lebanese Taverna Express on Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith, told officers he had been hired with no employment checks carried out.
The Home Office Immigration Enforcement Team had applied to Hammersmith and Fulham Council seeking revocation of the licence, with the matter initially due to be heard in front of the Licensing Sub-Committee in early September. The item was however adjourned due to the licence recently changing hands.
At a sub-committee meeting this week members decided against full revocation and instead went with the one-month suspension, plus a host of further conditions.
According to documents the Central London Immigration Compliance and Enforcement team visited the premises on September 18 2025, where they encountered one illegal worker. Documents reveal the man had entered the country in March 2022 via a small boat from France.
He made a claim for protection, though this was withdrawn due to non-compliance. His bail conditions did not allow him to work, though he confirmed to officers he had been hired as a kitchen porter two months prior to the visit, doing a total of 15 hours weekly.
The former licence holder, Shakeeb Mohamed Ayash, said he had not conducted any pre-employment checks, and that the worker had shown false documentation to his boss.
“Whether by negligence or wilful blindness illegal workers were engaged in activity on the premises, yet it is a simple process for an employer to ascertain what documents they should check before a person can work,” the Home Office report states.
“It is an offence to work when a person is disqualified to do so, and such an offence can only be committed with the co-operation of a premises licence holder or its agents. It is also an offence to employ an illegal worker where there is reason to believe this is the case.”
The illegal worker said they were being paid £9.50 an hour, below the minimum wage of £12.21, and that sometimes this was given in cash.
A penalty had been issued to the company Moezali Ltd, of £40,000, which ran the premises, though this is yet to be resolved.
The adjournment to the meeting on September 9 was approved after the current licence holder, Yousef Aga, who had taken on the business on August 21, emailed the authority requesting a delay.
Speaking at Wednesday night’s meeting, Alexandra Romano, a Home Office Licensing Compliance Officer, said revocation of the licence remained their request, despite the change in licence holder.
She told members: “The central point is that this review was never simply about the presence of one illegal worker but what the evidence revealed about the operation of the business. Mr Ayash accepted responsibility for recruitment, staffing and payment of workers. He also accepted that no pre-employment right to work checks had been conducted. That admission is significant.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |