Takeaway licence revoked over illegal workers

The council's licensing committee voted unanimously to revoke the venue's licence

A takeaway has had its alcohol licence suspended after illegal workers were found there during several immigration raids.

New Red Lantern in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, was accused of assaulting and obstructing Home Office workers and not registering staff, despite repeated warnings.

A Durham County Council licensing hearing was told staff also refused to cooperate with officers' investigations and shouted warnings to workers to evade detection.

Chris Woodrow, representing licence holder Song Min He, said he had proposed making several improvements, including taking a licence qualification.

But the Home Office warned the alcohol licence, for between 23:00 and 02:00, should be revoked due to the repeated incidents.

Lee Harkus, from Immigration Enforcement, said: "This premises has been repeatedly found using illegal workers.

"The first visit should have served as an opportunity to improve the business practices, however, this was not the case."

'Proactive obstruction'

Immigration officers raided the premises on Front Street three times between 2019 and 2025 and found 10 people working there illegally.

Licence holder Song Min He said he rented the ownership of the takeaway to another company in 2022 due to illness, and did not have oversight of the business.

Dhax Limited, the company previously listed as in control, had already been fined £28,000 for employing workers illegally, with another potential penalty under consideration, the hearing heard.

Mr Woodrow said the licensee accepted Dhax had not "done it properly, but he has got somebody else in now".

However, the council's licensing committee voted unanimously to revoke the venue's licence, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Harkus added: "The repetitive proactive obstruction and more recent assault of a law enforcement officer is a clear demonstration that the responsible management of the premises is not a high priority to the licence holder.

"He was not only present during the visit conducted in 2019, but he was complicit in obstructing officers entering the kitchen area and was witnessed shouting instructions to others to block officers, which resulted in him being forcibly removed."