A NEW operating licence application for Miah’s Restaurant in Spencers Wood, Wokingham has been slammed by Thames Valley Police (TVP) as a “facade”.

The company applying for the licence is claimed to have connections with the current owner of Miah’s, who was forced to give up the eatery’s licence to sell alcohol in November 2018 after four illegal workers were found in its kitchen.

Berkshire Restaurant Ltd (BRL), a company created in late December 2018, lists Mr James Southern as its sole officer and Thames Valley Police allege that there are “direct links” between Mr Southern and the current licence holder of Miah’s Restaurant, Mr Jamshad Miah.

A letter of objection sent from TVP to Wokingham Borough Council (WBC), which is set to judge the new application on Thursday, March 21, read: “Thames Valley Police believe that there is a likely potential that the new applicant will either maintain business links with the current owners and management of the business, or will have a direct involvement on their behalf, i.e. acting as a ‘front’ for the business.”

Licences were also revoked by West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council late last year after illegal workers were also found at Miah’s restaurants in Pangbourne and on Wokingham Road, Reading respectively.

But correspondence sent by BRL’s lawyers states that the application has been submitted under a “new operator” to the previous licence operator at Miah’s.

TVP has taken issue with this detail because they believe it suggests a “total separation” from the previous licence holders, yet the authority claims the application has been made by somebody with “direct links to the Miah family and its associates and business partners” in an attempt to get around the revoked alcohol licence.

Thames Valley Police’s letter continued: “The application suggests total separation and a ‘New Operator’ – but is in fact suspected to be another attempt by them to maintain control of the premises under the façade of a brand new and unlinked operator.”

The letter outlines how TVP is aware of a link between Mr James Southern and the Miah family.

They claim the address of Berkshire Restaurant Limited was changed in January 2019 from Mr Southern’s home address to 8 Shinfield Rise, RG2 8EA.

But checks made by the Police indicate Mr Southern is not registered at this address, and instead five others were registered here, four of which have the surname “Islam”.

One of these four is Mr Abadul Islam, who is linked to the owners of Miah’s of Pangbourne through a report of a theft crime.

In September 2010, TVP recorded an incident of theft at 8 Shinfield Rise. Mr Jamshad Miah, the owner of the three Miah’s restaurants, reported the incident and gave his address as Miah’s Indian Restaurant, Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood, while the address of Miah’s Reading restaurant was given for the aggrieved, Mr Abadul Islam.

Thames Valley Police suggest this evidence “provides a direct link between the address at 8 Shinfield Rise and both Mr Jamshad Miah and Mr Abadul Islam”.

As a result of their findings, TVP said it was worried about the continuation of “poor practice” after Miah’s restaurants were found to have committed “serious immigration offences” last year.

The council has been urged by the Police to carry out “extreme scrutiny” when considering the new application in order to determine whether it is “new”, as Berkshire Restaurant Ltd’s Lawyers suggest, or whether it is a “rebranded application”.

Councillors John Halsall, Malcolm Richards and Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey will decide whether to grant a new licence to Berkshire Restaurant Ltd for Miah’s Restaurant in Spencers Wood on Thursday, March 21.