Restaurant licence loss corrected

Herefordshire Council has apologised to the woman it thought was in charge of a Hereford Indian restaurant when it withdrew the premises’ licence to sell alcohol.

A multi-agency raid on the Razbari restaurant in Eign Street last month found three staff working illegally, with police arresting one for immigration offences. Potential environmental health and fire safety breaches were also found.

As a result, a summary licence review last month withdrew the premises’ licence as an interim step, with Mrs Wahida Khatun named as the licence holder and designated premises supervisor (DPS) – despite Mrs Khatun saying she no longer managed the restaurant.

A council investigation has since found that an application was indeed made in January 2019 to transfer the named premises licence holder and DPS from Mrs Khatun to a Md Masud Ruhel Mintu.

The council has since apologised to Mrs Khatun for what it called a “process failure”.

Principal licensing officer Fred Spriggs told a licensing subcommittee meeting, called to fully review the licence, that every reasonable attempt had been made to contact Mr Mintu, including serving papers at his postal address.

Noting Mr Mintu’s “lack of engagement”, the committee voted to revoke his licence.

Mr Mintu has also been instructed by Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue not to permit anyone to sleep on the premises.

The restaurant had been licensed to sell alcohol between 5pm and midnight, seven nights a week. It appears to still be trading.