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London- Alsharq Tribune- Sarah Benkraouda
Two Edgware Road restaurants face a licence review after hiring 15 illegal workers.
The Home Office said immigration officers encountered illegal workers at both Al Balad restaurants along Edgware Road, close to Marble Arch, on four separate occasions between April 2017 and June 2025, an official report shows.
During a fifth visit on October 31, 2025 officers say they faced "significant hostility" including violent and threatening behaviour from staff members and had to call the Metropolitan Police.
The Home Office said these incidents raised serious concerns about the restaurant's ability to operate responsibly and called for the premises licence to be revoked, a Home Office report before Westminster City Council shows.
Directors Ali and Khador Hakim said new systems and controls have since been implemented to strengthen compliance. The restaurants have racked up £210,000 in fines and still owe £120,000, according to the report.
Immigration officers first visited Al Balad Restaurant 1 at 11 Edgware Road on April 3, 2017, and found seven men working illegally. The incident was a "significant breach" of immigration and employment law, according to the Home Office, and Al Balad was fined £60,000.
Officers visited again in March 2023 and fined Donise Limited, the company which owns both restaurants, £20,000 after finding and arresting four illegal workers. This included a Tunisian who used "verbal deception" to obtain a visitor visa and claimed to work three to four days a week for free food and coffee.
Another had several aliases in the UK and had overstayed her domestic worker visa by a year. A third, from Syria, initially claimed he wasn't employed at the premises but was there "to watch and pray".
He later admitted to being at the premises twice that week and handled boxes from 10am to 6pm. The Home Office said the man entered the UK illegally via a port in October 2021 and made a claim for protection. At the time of the visit, he was on immigration bail and was not allowed to work.
A fifth, from Egypt, tried to leave and repeatedly claimed he did not work there despite being pointed out as staff by his manager. Checks found he entered the UK illegally in June 2015 and had his claim for protection refused five months later.
The report shows he was also spotted by immigration officers working in a shisha lounge on Edgware Road in 2019.
Premises manager Ali Hakim admitted hiring the workers and claimed he checks National Insurance documents and passport copies before hiring new staff. He said he didn't have physical copies of these documents on him but they were available on his phone.
When officers visited in November 2023, they found an illegal worker from Syria who had entered the UK illegally ten years earlier and had his claim for protection denied. Immigration officers visited again in June 2025 and found three more individuals working illegally and fined the restaurant £110,000.
They were from Lebanon, Egypt and Algeria and had either overstayed their visas or entered the UK illegally and had their claims for protection turned down. One worker from Egypt hid in the toilets and appeared extremely nervous when he came out. He was wearing latex gloves at the time and said he started working the previous day as a shawarma chef.
Mr Hakim was interviewed again and said he was the business director of Donise Ltd. He said the workers were not being paid and claimed one of them was a friend. He admitted he did not check any documents.
'Horrified'
Officers visited again on October 31 and say they were met with threats and acts of violence from staff, requiring the police to be called out. Despite trying to de-escalate verbally, the manager grabbed a Home Office official and had to be restrained by two officers, according to the same report.
Following this, other staff members became increasingly aggressive and started pushing and shoving officers, ripped off ties and 'faced-off' in a threatening manner, the report said. One male worker picked up a chair and table and tried to throw it at officers while another officer was forced to push back a staff member who lunged at him, the report claims.
Police arrived at 11pm to assist immigration officers who found themselves outnumbered by staff and a crowd of 20 customers filming or allegedly being encouraged by staff to verbally abuse officers.
Mr Hakim eventually arrived on the scene and 11 individuals were cleared by officers. Due to the heated situation and the crowd being encouraged by workers to block officers inside and prevent them from leaving, immigration officers were unable to "ask all intended licensing questions".
Mr Hakim said he could not provide CCTV because the premises had just been renovated.
In a report, the Home Office wrote: "The enforcement visits indicate a sustained and deliberate disregard for immigration and employment laws over an extended period. The recurrence of such serious breaches suggests a failure to take corrective action following prior enforcement, raising significant concerns about the management and oversight of the premises."
The Met Police backed the application saying it was "horrified" to learn about the incident in October. It also said in a letter to Westminster City Council that during a police visit in November, the owner denied all knowledge of the incident.
The owner also said he only kept CCTV for one week. The Met said CCTV had been recording some days when they attended but the footage had "either cleared or had been deleted".
Westminster City Council's licensing team also backed the move saying the issues identified by the Home Office appeared to be getting worse. They wrote: "The repetitive nature of the Home Office visits demonstrates that the premises licence holder has not learnt their lessons and had a complete disregard for the law, licensing objectives and its employees."
A customer who was present during the final raid wrote in support of the restaurant and claimed the approach taken by immigration officers caused "confusion and distress" among diners. Another denied the venue was a source of safety concerns.
In a letter, Mr Hakim apologised for the behaviour of his staff and said he has since introduced new systems and controls to strengthen compliance and ensure the issues identified do not arise again. This includes hiring a designated manager to maintain employment records and training staff on immigration laws.
A statement from Mr Hakim read: "The business is committed to operating in a lawful, responsible, and transparent manner. We will continue to cooperate with the Home Office and Westminster City Council's Licensing Authority and will work to demonstrate that the improvements made are effective, robust, and sustained."
An appointed accountant and compliance officer for Al Balad confirmed the company's adherence to immigration and right-to-work requirements.
Westminster City Council will review the request during a meeting on Thursday, February 12.
