Shop keeps licence after illegal worker found

A village shop has been allowed to keep its alcohol licence despite someone working there illegally.

The Premier store on North Street in Martock had its licence reviewed after the Home Office found a person working at the shop without pay and without the right to work in the UK in October 2025.

Somerset Council has now decided the shop, which has been run by Aayushi Shah since July 2023, can keep its licence but have imposed extra conditions, including all managers partaking in annual training on the right-to-work requirement.

Premier said it had "reviewed and strengthened its procedures" for people assisting with its business while Shah did not wish to comment when approached by the BBC.

Although Premier stores are independently owned, shopkeepers are entered into a symbol group agreement, which means they must buy products from Booker Wholesale to trade under the Premier name.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the incident followed a similar one in September 2023, when government officials found a man hiding in the residential flat above the shop and subsequently arrested him.

A further visit by the Home Office in October 2025 found a man, who had no right to work, working behind the till, including selling alcohol to customers.

A Home Office spokesperson said the man had told them he had arrived at the business from London about two weeks before he was found by officials.

The man told officers he received free food and accommodation but had not been paid any wages.

Home Office checks later showed the man had entered the UK on a visit visa in August 2016 but failed to leave after it expired.

The shop owner Shah was subsequently fined £40,000 in January 2026, with the Home Office also requesting Somerset Council to revoke his premises licence.

The matter was considered in confidential session by the council's licensing sub-committee south in Yeovil on 28 October.

Prior to the hearing, the council received seven letters from residents living near the shop in support of Shah, each claiming they had "no cause for concern" with how he runs his business.

The sub-committee issued its ruling on 29 October, confirming that the licence would remain in place but with additional conditions.

The additional conditions state no person is allowed to undertake paid or unpaid duties at the shop, unless any right-to-work checks have first been completed.

The shop also has to record all right-to-work checks and keep them for 12 months after the person employment or engagement with the business ends.

Additionally, the shop has to keep a register of all people working at the shop.

A spokesperson for the committee said: "We are not satisfied that suspension or revocation of the licence is necessary or proportionate in the circumstances.

"Accordingly, we resolve to modify the premises licence by imposing additional conditions," they added.

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