A Turkish restaurant is no longer allowed to sell alcohol, after a police investigation into an alleged assault on a homeless man revealed the venue was in breach of its licence.
The Metropolitan Police Service is investigating an incident in which a homeless man was allegedly “beaten with his own crutch” at the venue on Strutton Ground, in Westminster, at around 7.15pm on February 17.
Food Works Turkish Kitchen had its license revoked at a Westminster City Council Licensing Sub-Committee hearing on Thursday morning (April 9). The “family-run” restaurant will no longer be allowed to sell alcohol on its premises, after it was found to have breached a number of its licensing conditions, including failure to produce CCTV.
The victim had to attend hospital with GBH level injuries, the sub-committee heard. No arrest has yet been made in connection with the alleged assault but an investigation remains under way.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service said: “Police are investigating reports of an assault on Strutton Ground, near Victoria Street, at around 19:15hrs on Tuesday, 17 February. No arrests have been made at this time and our enquiries continue.”
Police legal counsel, James Rankin, said a second suspect in the investigation had not been identified.
Goksel Akcadag, who is employed at Food Works Turkish Kitchen, pleaded with the sub-committee to allow the venue to keep its licence. He said he was prepared to undergo training to take over from the current licence holder and become the Designated Premises Supervisor.
“This is my business. This is my whole life. I pay my mortgage and I pay my bills – how can I lose my business?” he said during the hearing.
However, police had concerns over Mr Akcadag’s behaviour during a previous visit they had conducted to the premises following the alleged incident, the sub-committee heard.
Legal counsel Robert Sutherland, who represented Food Works Turkish Kitchen, said that the current licence holder would be stepping away from the day-to-day running of the business due to the ongoing criminal investigation and licence breaches. He added that his fellow business partner, Kalender Akcadag, was prepared to “step-in” and obtain their own personal licence, while Mr Goksel Akcadag underwent training.
A previous application to transfer the licence to a different person was withdrawn at the hearing, after it was revealed they had told police they were “just helping [their] friend out”. The venue’s legal counsel told the sub-committee there had been no intention to try and mislead with the application.
An interim suspension, decided at an earlier summary hearing, will continue until any appeal is disposed of. While the sub-committee considered a suspension with additional conditions, it decided this would not have achieved the desired licensing objectives.
The Met Police called for a summary license review into the venue on March 13. Police Licensing Officers, who were made aware of the alleged incident in the first week of March, attended Food Works and asked to see CCTV.
They were told that this was broken, although it was then revealed this was not the case, according to police. The venue was unable to produce CCTV showing the time of the alleged incident, it added.
Officers were told this was because the system was faulty but they say there was no evidence of an arranged repair or record of the fault. A police officer was able to locate local council CCTV which showed footage of the alleged incident taking place.
Westminster City Council Licensing Officers identified a series of breaches during a visit to the premises on March 4. Following a full inspection the following day, the licence holder was emailed a list of the breaches and given seven days to resolve these. At a follow-up visit on March 13, an officer found that “even the simplest of remedial actions had not been done”.
The breached conditions relate to: selling alcohol while CCTV equipment is inoperative; installing and maintaining CCTV adequately; ensuring a staff member conversant in CCTV is present at all times and can provide authorities with CCTV; and properly maintaining an incident log.
During the hearing, it was reiterated that the licence holder had wanted to have a solicitor present earlier in the proceedings but couldn’t afford one. It was also stated that Food Works often hands out free food to the local community. The restaurant is still able to operate however no alcohol sales can take place.
