A popular Chinese restaurant in London accused of hiring and exploiting illegal workers has had its licence revoked.
Westminster City Council revoked Fei Er Cottage’s premises licence following a review on Thursday (June 5). The local authority also rejected a request to transfer the licence to the current holder’s ex-wife, Ms Xiaoyu Wang.
Home Office Immigration Enforcement requested the meeting in March after raiding the property last year and finding half of the restaurant’s employees were alleged illegal workers. Further probes found the venue had also breached its CCTV conditions, alcohol licence and at one point had traded without a valid premises licence.
In a decision only recently released on Westminster City’s website, the Licensing Committee said Mr Feng Qui, the current Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS), had been involved in recruiting illegal workers, paying wages and agreeing rota hours. They also found Mr Qui was a director of the company holding the premises licence and the leaseholder for the site.
They said Mr Qui should have been aware of the importance of hiring legal workers after being subject to a unfounded allegation he had employed an illegal worker at another premises in 2018. The committee said “any responsible Premises Licence Holder” would have severed links with Mr Qui and this should have happened in April when his ex-wife began trading as the sole director of the company running Fei Er Cottage in London Victoria.
The committee also found Ms Wang lacked experience running a restaurant, had limited licensing knowledge and was dependent on Mr Qui, despite being separated. They also questioned placing Mr Abir Hossain as the new DPS saying he has also been involved in the investigation by the Home Office. The immigration authority said Mr Hossain had worked for Fei Er Cottage for the last three years and may have been aware of illegal workers.
Mr Hossain said Mr Qui dealt with recruiting staff. The Home Office also said while Mr Qui said he no longer had any dealings with the restaurant, he had been posting about Fei Er Cottage just 16 hours prior to the hearing.
The committee wrote in its decision: “The committee expected the DPS to have been replaced at the earliest convenience to reduce any risks to the licensing objectives being adversely affected. However, rather than this being deliberate on the part of Ms Wang, this is more likely to be her inexperience or Mr Qui, still having and maintaining control of the operation of the business.
“Either way, the committee find that it is appropriate to take action in respect of this premises licence.”
The committee also rejected a suggestion for the licence to be retained with a condition restricting Mr Qui’s involvement. They said the restaurant had previously breached existing conditions and Ms Wang’s lack of experience suggested she was not aware of the importance of complying with the terms of the licence.
They also said Ms Wang couldn’t use the CCTV system and was reliant on Mr Qui because of her poor English skills. The committee rejected calls for a short suspension to replace the DPS with Mr Hossain. The committee said doing this did not address the “intrinsic link” between Mr Qui and the business.
‘It’s not fair’
During Thursday’s meeting the Home Office argued Fei Er Cottage’s behaviour encouraged businesses to take risks when it came to complying with immigration laws. They said during the raid officers found four illegal workers including a student who was only allowed to work 20 hours per week but had worked well in excess of that and another who claimed he was being paid by way of a bowl of rice.
They also said the current company, China Centre Pimlico Ltd, had until April 2024 to appeal the penalty for employing illegal workers at the premises or pay the fine, but they had not done either, so the fine had now been passed to a debt collector agency. According to The Standard, Fei Er Cottage was fined £180,000.
The Metropolitan Police backed the licence review. Westminster City’s licensing team said this is only the second review brought by the Home Office since 2018.
The licensing team said they do not believe Mr Qui will relinquish control of the restaurant. One licensing officer said: “I can’t see a clean break that is going to happen to allow the person that we don’t have confidence in, and [Mr Qui] admitted he’s not going to be running the premises, to completely leave… If we did have legitimate belief he was going to leave and it was going to be Ms Wang who was going to be responsible for running the business, [then] she’s had no record of running a licensed premises at all.”
The licensing committee heard the company did not dispute the Home Office’s claim it had found four illegal workers on site. A representative of the business said Mr Qui had remained to support Ms Wang as she settled in and had planned to go to China to take care of his sick mother.
The committee was told Ms Wang had since ensured all staff are legal. Mr Qui told the committee everyone makes mistakes and urged councillors to give the restaurant and its 15 employees a chance.
During the meeting Ms Wang could not name her recruitment team or her current staff with any confidence and admitted she did not know how to operate the CCTV. She also had difficulties saying which recruitment company was being used, how much they charged, the profit from her business or how she will ensure the restaurant is run legally.
Ms Wang said she runs a beauty salon but that her staff were self-sufficient and would therefore focus on the restaurant. She said she had lived in London for the last 20 years but still relied on Mr Qui to help her translate.
Mr Qui felt Ms Wang was being asked too many questions and didn’t understand. He said: “If you want to ask another question to her, we need a translator to present here and that this translator is an independent person… This is the right way to do it. You can see she is so scared. She is thinking today it’s like we are in the court… it’s not fair you get an answer from her now, in this kind of situation, to make a decision how you would run the licence.”
Steve Burnett, legal advisor to the council, said Mr Qui offered to be her translator and had ample time to get one. He also said Ms Wang was brought to the meeting as their witness.
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