Alcohol licence bid for bar that had illegal workers

The application for Chicken N Beer will be decided at a meeting next Tuesday

A company has applied to sell alcohol at a chicken bar that had a licence to do so revoked for employing illegal workers.

The permission for Chicken N Beer in Stanfield Road, Bournemouth, to sell alcohol was removed in May after immigration officials saw a man and a woman run out of the back in February.

A new company has applied to sell alcohol there but Dorset Police said it has "significant concerns" about the relationship between its owner and the man previously responsible for the bar.

Cloud Brands Ltd's application for the new premises licence at Chicken N Beer will be decided by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council's licensing sub-committee on Tuesday.

The company said it would "operate in strict adherence to licensing restrictions" if the application is approved.

But Dorset Police's licensing officer Louise Busfield said it is "essential" the force gets "robust assurances" about the relationship between the potential operator and the former company that ran it.

"Dorset Police has significant concerns that this application may amount to an attempt to continue operating the premises under a new entity, while still maintaining influence or control by the former operator whose licence was revoked," she added.

Neither of the people apprehended after fleeing Chicken N Beer earlier this year had ever got permission to work in the country, the Home Office said in May.

The bar's former premises licence holder, Roy Francis, said he had resigned as a director of the company that previously ran it before the man and woman were found working there.

Under the Licensing Act 2003, which is mostly managed by councils, licence holders must abide by its conditions including the prevention of crime and disorder.