Hearing Store licence revoked after employing illegal worker

A BRISTOL corner shop has had its premises licence revoked for employing an illegal worker.

- Adam POSTANS

Premier Express outlet Nibley Road Convenience Store in Shirehampton was fined £40,000 last year after a prosecution by Home Office immigration enforcement.

Licence holder Chandrakala Amalathas Mariampillai, who has run the shop for 14 years, said it would now have to close and called the revocation by Bristol city councillors unfair.

Richard Nichols, from immigration enforcement, told the licensing sub-committee that officers visited the shop in February 2025 and found a male employee who had no right to work in the UK.

He said the staff member, who was arrested, told them he carried out tasks including cleaning and washing-up at the premises and that the owner knew he had no permission to work.

Mr Nichols told the hearing: “No right-to-work checks were carried out.”

He said the Home Office rejected an explanation from the licence holder that the man was not employed at the store and that it concluded he was in a contract of service.

Mr Nichols said a judge imposed a £40,000 fine, a decision that went to appeal but was upheld.

He said a subsequent visit earlier this year discovered another employee, a university student allowed to work up to 20 hours a week during holidays, was far exceeding that and was paid just £8 an hour, well below the minimum wage.