A restaurant in East Ham has lost its premises licence for three months after staff told Home Office officials they were working for below minimum wage.
The Home Office asked Newham Council to revoke Udaya Restaurant’s licence after visiting its premises on Katherine Road in June 2024.
It said that some of the employees told its officers “they were getting paid well below the minimum wage and several stated they were provided with food and accommodation”.
The Home Office said four of the seven employees it met were working “illegally”.
Udaya, which has operated for over a quarter of a century in East Ham, had received a £180,000 fine when four people with no right to work in the UK were found employed there last June.
Councillors on a licensing sub-committee held a hearing to review Udaya’s premises licence on Monday, 11th August.
Minutes say the licence holder told them “he was not able to give the business the appropriate amount of time due to his busy schedule and was unable to train staff”.
However he said he “understood that changes would have to be made and that he personally would have to give more time to the business”.
Labour’s Newham North East MP Stephen Timms also wrote to the panel in support of the owner, Parjeesh Kumar.
Timms said Kumar “accepted full responsibility” and had taken steps to cooperate with the authority. He added: “This is a first offence. I am sure it is not deliberate.”
Mr Kumar had previously said revoking Udaya’s licence would “almost certainly result in permanent closure” after the £180,000 fine put a significant “financial burden” on the business.
The restaurant opened in 1999 and has become popular with TikTok food influencers in recent years for its authentic Keralan food.
However, after questioning the licence holder and premises supervisor the panel said they were “surprised” that neither “had a proper understanding” of licensing requirements.
The panel decided to impose “rigorous additional conditions” on the licence, and that the current designated premises supervisor should be removed.
They also decided to suspend Udaya’s premises licence for three months. They said this would allow the licence holder time to “put in place a system” that would allow him to comply with licensing objectives.
