24/04/2025
Akaya Lounge has had its late-night licence suspended.
Akaya Lounge was served a £45,000 civil penalty fine after a Home Office enforcement raid arrested four men believed to be living and working in the UK illegally.
A Slough High Street shisha bar has had its late-night licence suspended after an immigration bust uncovered men working there illegally and being underpaid.
Akaya Lounge was given a £45,000 civil penalty fine after a Home Office enforcement raid arrested four men believed to be living and working in the UK illegally.
Discussion over whether the bar should also be stripped of its late-night licence, at a Home Office request, took place at a council licensing sub-committee on Wednesday.
The bar’s licence holder Mohammad Ali told the hearing that the raid had been ‘a wake up call’ and that ‘nothing like this will happen again’ at Akaya Lounge.
“Since then, what we’ve done, we’ve got rid of the cancer you could say,” he said, adding the manager responsible for employing the men had been replaced.
Immigration officers ‘burst in’ to a busy Akaya Lounge during the raid – an ‘enforcement visit’ – on January 11.
Four men were arrested in the scramble, while others were spotted fleeing onto the restaurant rooftop.
Mr Ali said: “When they came in, obviously it’s quite intimidating, you know, when you get 15 to 20 officers burst in.”
Immigration officer Hermeet Sindra, one of those present at the raid, told the hearing he had arrested one man attempting to escape through the rear exit.
During questioning, Mr Sindra said the man admitted to being a worker at Akaya Lounge who was paid around £6 to £7 pounds an hour.
Minimum wage at the time was £11.44
Mr Sindra added: “He claims that the business had initially said no to working, but he begged and they let him work.”
One of the four arrested men has since been successful in appealing a Home Office legal notice to leave the UK, Mr Sindra said.
But, he said, notice to leave the country remained for the three others.
Discussing why the Home Office had requested the licence review, he said: “Immigration enforcement do not just drive around looking for businesses to target.
“We are intelligence-led and there have to be significant concerns for us to action incoming intelligence.
“We do not routinely refer to seek a licence review, but we do so in selected cases where we have heightened concerns.”
He said: “Illegal working results in businesses that are not playing by the rules and undercutting legitimate businesses that are.”
Defending Akaya Lounge, Mr Ali said ‘this is a wake up call,’ adding: “That’s why I can guarantee nothing like this will happen again.
“The law is the law and we have to follow the law, ultimately, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
The sale of food and drink during daytime hours is not licensed by Slough Borough Council, so the committee considered Akaya Lounge’s late-night licence – which it resolved to suspend.
Akaya Lounge operates as a restaurant and shisha bar open during the day and has a licence for the sale of late-night refreshments till 2am on some nights.
The committee’s decision means Akaya Lounge will not be able to sell hot food and drink after the hours of 11pm for six weeks.
The licence suspension can be appealed.