People were found working illegally at a Leytonstone café by authorities during a visit, a meeting heard.
Four people without a legal right to work were arrested by immigration enforcement officers at E11 Coffee Lounge, in Church Lane, in January.
During the visit, Metropolitan Police officers and members of the Home Office’s immigration enforcement team were reportedly sworn at and told to leave by staff.
The venue’s licence was revoked by Waltham Forest Council following a hearing on April 29.
The Home Office and the council’s licensing department had both pushed for punitive measures.
MORE NEWS: The new 'Aladdin's cave' food shop in Walthamstow
Halit Matraxhi, the licence holder, went before the council’s licensing committee arguing that he should not be punished.
While Matraxhi is the named licence holder, he said he did not oversee the day-to-day management of the business.
That was left to a previous designated premises supervisor (DPS) who has since been sacked.
Matraxhi effectively operated as the café’s landlord, collecting only a fixed rate each month, and he claimed to have no knowledge of the illegal workers.
The licence holder said he only spoke to the manager “if there was an issue” and he “never had any concerns” about the business.
He “never met or saw” the four illegal workers, but “never assumed” staff members did not have a legal right to work.
In 2021, the manager and his business were convicted in a two-day trial after people were found smoking inside the café, which is illegal.
Matraxhi and Church Lane Enterprises also went before Thames Magistrates’ Court but were acquitted.
Despite the convictions and acquittals, the council’s food safety team said issues had persisted.
A barrister representing Matraxhi said the conviction of the manager but not his client was proof he was removed from the business.
The council, however, said that while it was “important” he was not convicted, officers still had reservations after “five years of non-compliance”.
When asked by councillors why he did not monitor the cafe more closely after the trial, the licence holder said he only visited the premises “every once in a while” and “assumed” it was being run properly.
It was also difficult to balance against his full-time career in construction, he said.
Additionally, his legal counsel claimed he was not told about any subsequent licensing breaches in the years since and enforcement letters were kept secret from him.
In a final plea to the committee, he said the experience had been “stressful and expensive" and one his client had learned from.
He added that Matraxhi had no convictions or received any police warnings in Britain or his native Albania.
He argued an “appropriate and proportionate resolution of a headache is not a beheading”.
The business will have 21 days to appeal the decision.
Share