The owner of a Bayswater restaurant hit with a £45,000 fine for employing an illegal worker has begged Westminster City Council to allow him to renew his licence. Dilman Ismail Mahmoud told a licensing sub-committee on Thursday that he was sorry and now conducts regular employment checks at Sadaf Restaurant.
Immigration enforcement officers found an illegal worker during a raid in April 2025. The Home Office issued a civil penalty and referred the case for a licensing review in November 2025. Mr Mahmoud said: 'I don’t want to pay another penalty – it’s hard for me. I’m sorry that this happened.'
His legal counsel, Armin Solimani, said the employee was hired on a student visa in December 2023, which expired in May 2024. The worker claimed he was renewing it and had the right to work, which Mr Solimani called an 'inadvertent error'. The Home Office opposed the licence, citing a 'sustained history of non-compliance' and alleged 'phoenix activity' after the original company went bankrupt in September 2022.
Mr Mahmoud denied phoenix activity, saying there was no pattern of liquidation. He had only begun paying the penalty after the review started. Immigration officers had been denied entry twice before the April raid, once due to the lunch rush and once because he was absent.
The Metropolitan Police and licensing authority also opposed the application. However, the South East Bayswater Residents’ Association supported Mr Mahmoud, calling him a 'family man' who has run the restaurant for 20 years and helped local schools. The sub-committee considered conditions such as regular right-to-work checks.
