The Harrow Council Licensing Panel met to review the premises licence for Mumbai Local, a restaurant located at 238-240 Streatfield Road, following an application from the Home Office. The panel heard evidence regarding alleged breaches of immigration law and ultimately decided to revoke the restaurant's licence.

Review of Mumbai Local's Premises Licence

The central issue was the application for a review of the premises licence for Mumbai Local, following a request from the Home Office, which cited concerns about the prevention of crime and disorder. The Home Office's application stated that the restaurant had twice been found to be employing illegal immigrants, once on 18 November 2023, when five males and one female were found to be working illegally, and again on 4 July 2024, when one male was found to be working illegally. According to the Public reports pack, the Home Office argued that the repeated offences demonstrated a continuous pattern of unlawful working and labour exploitation, as the workers were being paid substantially below the national minimum wage.

The Public reports pack included witness statements from Sian Law and Jelizaveta Lisicka, Immigration Officers, detailing a compliance visit on 17 July 2025. According to their statements, a male previously arrested at the premises for immigration offences in July 2024 was present, and a female who claimed she would get the manager disappeared and did not return.

The Licensing Authority submitted a formal representation supporting the Home Office's application, stating that the repeated violations raised serious concerns about the management's ability to uphold the licensing objective of preventing crime and disorder.

The report outlined the options available to the panel, which included:

• modifying the conditions of the licence
• excluding licensable activities from the scope of the licence
• removing the designated premises supervisor
• suspending the licence for a period not exceeding 3 months
• revoking the licence

The Public reports pack also referenced Section 182 Guidance to the Licensing Act 2003, which states that where a licensing authority determines that the crime prevention objective is being undermined through the premises being used to further crimes, it is expected that revocation of the licence should be seriously considered, even in the first instance.

Ultimately, the panel decided to revoke the premises licence for Mumbai Local.

Licensing Procedures

The panel reviewed the standard Licensing panel procedure for a Regular hearing 2020 and Licensing panel procedures for a Review hearing 2020. The procedures outline how oral hearings are conducted, including introductions, presentations of reports and statements, questioning of parties, and concluding statements.