An immigration raid found half the workforce at a Chinese restaurant in Pimlico made famous by an appearance in Black Doves on Netflix were working illegally and not paying tax.
When immigration officers from the Home Office raided the Fei Er Cottage restaurant on 18 December half of the staff were reported to be illegal, and four arrests were made. The owners of Fei Er Cottage are now facing sanctions and fines rising to £240,000, £60,000 per arrest.
During one raid three people from China and one from Nepal were either working in the kitchen or waiting table without the right visa, or no visa at all. One of the waiters had been working for the restaurant since 2024 while the other three had been working between three and six months.
Most of their pay was made in cash with no tax or National Insurance contributions made on any of the payments, and according to Companies House, the business only had five staff in total. They also have several on-and-off directors, who have resigned and been reappointed several times.
In the premises review document, the Home Office stated: ‘This premises appears to be operating with a complete disregard for the law and the licensing objectives.
‘Within less than five months of being granted a premises licence, immigration officers have attended and arrested half of the staff members present for working illegally.’
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All four arrestees were questioned by the Home Office but gave limited answers. For example, one was asked if they worked in the restaurant, they said: ‘I just went into the kitchen and asked for food the chef told me to cut some veggies, and he would give me some rice.’
As well as this the Home Office uncovered payslips showing that one of the members of staff had worked over 65 hours in one week, working out to over 12 hours a day if working a five-day week.
They were being paid £12.50 an hour but according to screenshots of the app used for payments, the restaurant ‘taxed’ over one third of their wages, which were paid in cash and bank transfers.
The Home Office has asked Westminster Council to revoke the licence of the restaurant, restricting their opening hours and banning them from selling alcohol. The restaurant has previously been warned of this. A hearing to decide on the restaurant’s licenses is due to go ahead in April.
One of the members of staff had been arrested while working illegally in another restaurant in 2018 but evaded immigration officers until the raid at Fei Er Cottage. The Home Office believed he had entered the UK illegally in 2012.
He is now awaiting an appeal for his claim for asylum.
A woman was also found to have overstayed her visitor visa and had never been allowed to work in the UK.
Another of the staff members was working on a student visa that permitted him to work just 20 hours per week, however he was working three times this. In September 2024, he worked 260.5 hours.
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