Moroccan restaurant told to install CCTV after chef found working in kitchen illegally

A Moroccan restaurant in Peterborough has had its premises licence suspended for two weeks after a chef was found working in its kitchen illegally.

Tavan Restaurant, located inside the Pearl Hotel in Lincoln Road, was also told it must install CCTV in the kitchen and that Mr Chavadar Zhelev – who employed the chef – must be removed as its designated premises supervisor.

But the restaurant avoided having its licence revoked entirely, as suggested by the Home Office in an application to Peterborough City Council (PCC) supported by local police.

The Home Office say that it visited the restaurant twice last year, first finding an Egyptian national - referred to as ‘Mr Ahmed’ throughout PCC's licensing hearing – in the kitchen but not working and the second time in the kitchen cooking.

He did not have the right to work in the UK, they said, and had been paid £40 cash-in-hand for the work he was undertaking.

Mr Andy Cave, Mr Zhelev’s solicitor, said that his client accepted that Mr Ahmed was working in the kitchen without having undergone proper checks during the Home Office’s second visit to the restaurant in November and that it was the “biggest mistake” of his trading career.

He also doesn’t deny that Mr Ahmed was paid £40, for what he said was a four-hour trial shift organised because another chef was unwell, he added.

Mr Cave continued that Mr Ahmed was friends with Mr Zhelev and other staff at the Tavan Restaurant because he was a long-time customer and had volunteered with them during the Covid pandemic to prepare food and distribute it among the local community.

Because of this, it wasn’t unusual for him to wander into the kitchen despite not being employed by the restaurant, Mr Cave said, which is what had happened when the Home Office initially found him there in May 2022.

“We’ve brought with us big articles that were in the Evening Telegraph that show the pictures outside the Tavan restaurant that show many councillors and our local MP, Mr Bristow, all standing with Mr Zhelev with all this food and giving it to the community and Mr Ahmed became involved at that point,” Mr Cave said at the hearing.

Mr Zhelev’s guard was down also because he had seen Mr Ahmed employed at two other restaurants in Peterborough, Creation and the Babylon restaurant, he said.

Mr Cave concluded that Mr Zhelev has kept full records of employment checks for his other workers and had every intention to check Mr Ahmed’s after he was officially employed.

But, as well as having its licence suspended, the restaurant has been handed a £10,000 fine because Mr Ahmed – who has since "disappeared" – didn’t have the right to work in the UK, whether his shift was a trial or not.

The fine was issued to Burgas Sea Limited, the restaurant’s owner, by the Home Office prior to the licensing hearing.

The restaurant has 21 days to appeal the licensing committee's decision.