A south London restaurant has been stripped of its late-night licence after it was exposed for exploiting migrant workers.
The owner of Lebanese Garden Lounge on Balham High Road has been fined nearly £15,000 after the establishment was found to have employed five people without a legal right to work in the UK.
The workers said they were being paid well below the minimum wage, while one man said he was only receiving meals from the restaurant as pay.
The restaurant was raided by Home Office officials on March 10 last year.
The Home Office successfully applied to have the establishment’s late-night licence revoked from Wandsworth Borough Council last June and the owner, Karim Ali, appealed.
But just before Christmas his appeal was rejected, meaning the venue is no longer allowed to sell late-night refreshments after 11pm.
Mr Ali has also been ordered to pay the council’s legal costs, which amounts to just under £15,000.
Head of Licensing Caroline Sharkey said: “This case sends out two strong messages to licence holders that they must not employ people whose immigration status means they are not allowed to work and they must not exploit any staff members by paying them less than the minimum wage.
“Business owners who flout these simple rules run the very real risk of losing their licence.”
The council said Mr Ali denied claims that his staff were working illegally, but was able to "offer no evidence to support his denials and no adequate explanation was given for his paying employees less than the minimum wage".
"Mr Ali disputed the wage rates given by employees when they had been interviewed by the Home Office Enforcement Team. He insisted that all employees were paid at least the minimum wage and food was not included as part of their pay," the licencing sub-committee decision said.
"One man was on a trial shift and was not being paid but did receive a free meal at the end of the shift."
But the council committee "felt that paying less than minimum wage is indicative that Mr Ali was aware that his employees did not have the right to work in the UK", the decision stated.
It added: "It was clear that such workers would struggle to find alternative employment and are unlikely to complain. It was found that it was most likely that the licence holder did know that workers were being employed illegally."
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
