The Southsea shop has been stripped of its alcohol licence after illegal worker was found by the Home Office

A Costcutter in Southsea has had its premises licence revoked after the Home Office discovered an illegal worker at the shop.

Portsmouth City Council’s licensing sub-committee reviewed the licence for Costcutter at 2-4 Outram Road following an application from the Home Office.

Russell Angel, from Home Office Immigration Enforcement, said: “The ability to work illegally is a key driver of illegal migration.”

He said officers visited the shop on 6 August after receiving intelligence that illegal working was taking place. During the visit, they found a worker with no legal right to work in the UK.

The worker had been “entrusted with substantial operational responsibility”, opening the shop each morning, serving customers and holding the keys to the premises.

Mr Angel said the worker told immigration officers he was being paid £100 per week regardless of the number of hours worked.

The discovery resulted in a civil penalty of £45,000, which remains outstanding.

Jon Wallsgrove, a solicitor representing the shops director and license holder, Kumarasamy Uthayatharan, said his client “accepts the perilous positon he’s in”.

He said that despite his “failings”, Mr Uthayatharan had been an “experienced licence holder” for around 10 years.

Addressing the outstanding civil penalty, Mr Wallsgrove said his client had received “poor advice” from a firm which recommended challenging the fine, resulting in it being upheld.

He argued that had the penalty been accepted and arrangements made to pay it earlier, the licensing review was unlikely to have taken place.

Mr Wallsgrove said the illegal worker had been a University of Portsmouth student with permission to remain in the UK. After leaving university, he was “struggling” financially and approached the shop looking for work before being offered cash-in-hand employment by the shop manager, rather than Mr Uthayatharan.

He asked the sub-committee to suspend the licence rather than revoke it permanently, proposing stronger right-to-work checks and improved employment records.

He added that Mr Uthayatharan “is begging this committee for that second chance”.

Darran Bramley, the council’s licensing compliance officer, referred to a police caution issued after compliance visits in February and March 2026 uncovered several licensing breaches, including failures relating to staff authorisation, training, CCTV and licence conditions.

He said a joint inspection with police on 2 June found the premises was complying with the Licensing Act and its licence conditions, although staff were unable to produce training records when requested.

Announcing the decision, sub-committee chairman Councillor Richard Adair said the licence would be permanently revoked.

Explaining the decision, he said employing an illegal worker for six months could not be regarded as a minor breach. He also noted the business was found to be breaching licence conditions following the Home Office visit.

“The sub-committee is gravely concerned that after such significant enforcement action the premise continued to be run in a manner that is accepted by all parties to be well below the standards expected.

“Indicated a lack of due diligence and serves to undermine any trust that might otherwise be afforded to the premises licence holder.”