A CAFE once loved by Princess Diana and named in her honour could lose its license after employing illegal migrants.
The café also sometimes paid employees with food and was being unlawfully used to smoke shisha in a shocking find by police.
The Café Diana was loved by the princess after it was named in her honour
Kensington and Chelsea CouncilTubs containing suspected illegal shisha were confiscated from Café Diana in May[/caption]
The Café Diana first opened its doors close to Kensington Palace, west London, in 1989.
It became a favourite of the princess after it was named in her honour.
Shortly before her death in 1997 she had sent a touching letter to the café’s owner which said: “I wanted to write personally, to thank you so very much for the beautiful flowers you sent for my birthday.”
Abdul-Basit Daoud, the owner, fondly recalled how Diana first visited the café days after it opened.
He said: “She started coming more often, bringing the kids here sometimes for breakfast.
“The kids used to take breakfast, like English breakfast.
“Herself, she used to have cappuccino, cake, some croissants, something like this but she sometimes had English breakfast too.”
Dozens of photographs of the princess adorn the walls, including one she herself had presented as a gift, as the cafe is now a popular tourist destination.
But the Home Office has now applied for the establishment’s license to be revoked.
During four inspections between 2019 and 2024, seven illegal workers from Albania and Egypt were found.
The basement was also being unlawfully used to smoke shisha.
One migrant had been employed there for more than two years, according to an immigration enforcement report.
Other workers said they received food instead of pay for their work.
This “raised concerns about labour exploitation in the premises”.
One chef was found to have been “paid in food” and had arrived in the UK on a business visa that expired in 2015.
Owner Daoud oversaw recruitment, checking the right-to-work and immigration status of new staff members.
He told officers that staff were paid in cash and some received free food in return for working at the cafe.
The inspectors report stated: “Café Diana has been found employing illegal workers.
“This business has clearly failed to meet the prevention of crime and disorder and public safety objectives.”
As a result, the café was slapped with a £135,000 fine in April for illegally employing three migrants.
Customers were also found to be smoking shisha in the basement during an enforcement visit in May with police and trading officers.
They seized 45 unlabelled tubs of shisha tobacco.
Lawyers for the café’s owners said in a letter to the council: “Immediately upon becoming aware of the reported issues, our client undertook swift and decisive action by evicting the tenant responsible for the unauthorised activities.”
The café has now suggested suspending its license for three months.
This is to ensure that “right-to-work” immigration checks are carried out on all staff members.
TripAdvisorThe café was slapped with a £135,000 fine in April for illegally employing three migrants[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
