Ringo Pizza Hammersmith Licence Suspended for a Month

Ringo Pizza at 40 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, has had its premises licence suspended for one month. The Home Office had asked for the licence to be revoked after it found a worker with no right to work in the UK in the kitchen.

Hammersmith and Fulham’s Licensing Sub-Committee decided the review on Wednesday 30 September. The summary of decision was published on 1 October. The panel was Councillors Mercy Umeh in the chair, Wesley Harcourt and Stewart Waine.

The same panel granted Local Hero, a cafe at 640 Fulham Road near Parsons Green, a licence to sell alcohol in the evenings. It cut the hours it asked for and closed its back garden to customers from 9pm.

Why the Home Office wanted the licence revoked

The case goes back to 18 September 2025. That day Immigration Enforcement officers visited the takeaway, which also trades as Lebanese Taverna Express. The Home Office’s account is in its review application.

It says officers found one man working as a kitchen porter in breach of bail conditions that banned him from any work. According to the Home Office:

• he had worked there for two months, 15 hours a week
• the then licence holder confirmed no right-to-work checks were made before he started
• he was paid £9.50 an hour, against a National Minimum Wage at the time of £12.21, which the Home Office calls labour exploitation

The Home Office issued a £40,000 civil penalty to the operating company, Moezali Ltd, in October 2025. An objection lodged out of time was rejected on 28 November 2025. The Home Office says no appeal was made and nothing has been paid.

It applied for the review on 21 July 2026, on crime and disorder grounds, and asked for revocation. The council’s report records that no one else made a representation in support. The council’s Noise and Nuisance team said it had no noise complaints about the premises in about six years and would not back the review. There was no enforcement history at the premises in the last three years.

What the committee decided

The committee stopped short of revocation. Its decision:

• suspends the licence for one month
• arranges an inspection by the licensing authority in two months’ time, to check every condition is being met
• bars one named person from working at the premises in any capacity, or from any part in managing its licensable activities
• requires an online right-to-work checking system, audited at unannounced visits at least four times a year
• requires right-to-work records for every member of staff, kept and shown to council officers, police or immigration officers on request
• requires anyone who hires staff to be instructed in Home Office right-to-work checks

It also corrected the licence’s opening hours to 8am to 4am Sunday to Thursday and 8am to 5am on Fridays and Saturdays. The report says the licence had printed the wrong hours since an administrative error in a 2022 decision letter. The summary says this “becomes operational with immediate effect”. It does not give the dates of the suspension.

A new licence holder took over in August

The premises licence was transferred to a new holder on 21 August 2026. That was a month after the review was lodged. On 9 September the former holder emailed the council to surrender the licence. The council replied that he could not, because he no longer held it.

The review was first listed for 9 September. It was adjourned that evening so the new holder had time to prepare, as we reported at the time.

Local Hero: what was asked for, and what was granted

Local Hero applied on 22 June 2026 for a new premises licence (reference 2026/00993/LAPR). The council’s report describes it as a cafe with a coffee bar, a kitchen and a back garden. It received three objections and one representation in support. One objection came on behalf of the Barclay Road Conservation Area Neighbourhood Watch, and two from local residents.

The committee added four conditions of its own:

• the garden closes to customers at 9pm
• no speakers, recorded music or live music in the garden after 9pm
• self-closing external doors, never propped open
• a phone number for the premises, or a responsible member of staff, visible from the street so neighbours can complain

Nine more conditions were agreed with the police in July. They cover CCTV, staff training, Challenge 25, an incident log, a refusals log, a safeguarding policy and a dispersal plan. Alcohol must be served with food available and ordinarily drunk seated, except at private events.

What it means for you

• Living near Ringo Pizza? The licence covers hot food after 11pm and alcohol sales to take away. During the suspension it cannot sell either. Council officers will inspect in about two months.
• Living near Local Hero? The garden is the part neighbours worried about. It now shuts at 9pm, and music indoors stops at 11pm, an hour earlier than requested. If those conditions are broken, the licensing team is at licensing@lbhf.gov.uk.
• Appeals. The applicant and anyone who made a representation can appeal to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of being notified of the full decision. The full reasons have been sent to the parties but are not yet published.

Sources

• Summary of decision, Licensing Sub-Committee, 30 September 2026, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, for the panel, both decisions, the conditions and the appeal right.
• Committee report, Ringo Pizza review, for the licence history, the transfer, the representations, the enforcement history and the hours error.
• Home Office review application for the September 2025 visit, the pay, the civil penalty and the request to revoke.
• Noise and Nuisance team comments and correspondence from the licence holder.
• Committee report, Local Hero, 640 Fulham Road, for the application, the police conditions and the representations.