An Iraqi-run cafe dedicated to Princess Diana is facing closure after it was found to have been illegally employing migrants.
Cafe Diana was opened in 1989 by the Iraqi-born entrepreneur Abdul Basit Daoud and is near the late princess’s residence, Kensington Palace. She became a regular customer, bringing her sons, princes William and Harry. Diana, who at the time was married to Prince Charles, could often be seen chatting with Mr Daoud and waiters.
“She started coming more often, bringing the kids here sometimes for breakfast,” Mr Daoud recalled following Diana’s death. “She used to have cappuccino, cake, some croissants. But she sometimes had an English breakfast too.”
The Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement team found a total of seven illegal workers there from 2019 to last year, with one found there twice. The cafe was fined £135,000 ($185,000) for employing the Egyptian, Algerian and Albanian citizens, who had no legal right to work in the UK.
One of the Egyptians came to Britain on a six-month business visa in January 2015 but stayed on and claimed asylum. He claimed to have been working for “just under five months” and said his duties included “making burgers and just helping in the kitchen in return for food”, though he had also been caught working illegally during one of the previous raids.
During a raid in 2020, one of the workers “sat down at a table attempting to disguise himself as a customer” when he was spotted by immigration officers. An Algerian worker claimed she had been employed at the cafe for only a day and said no checks had been carried out. She admitted to having paid €5,000 ($5,905) to obtain fake work identification.
The Home Office said in its report that “workers admitted to being compensated with food instead of monetary payment, which raises concerns about labour exploitation taking place at the premises”. It goes on to say that “it is clear to see that the premises licence holder along with management has failed to conduct mandatory employment checks in line with legal obligations to prevent illegal working”.
In an interview with immigration officers, Mr Daoud admitted to owning the property but claimed he had been leasing the business to another person, and was unable to provide contact details for them. He said he had arrived at the cafe a short time before the immigration officers to regain ownership of the property, as the person had not been keeping up with the payment of rent.
Immigration Enforcement has asked Kensington and Chelsea Council to revoke Cafe Diana’s licence, which will be decided on Thursday.
In a letter to the council, the cafe’s solicitors said: “Our client is deeply regretting the circumstances that prompted this review and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience, disruption or concerns caused to the community, local authorities and stakeholders.
“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 Corporate Meeting and Event Service Ltd.
“This prompt response underscores our client's unwavering commitment to upholding licensing conditions and ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements.” Mr Daoud has been approached for comment.
Manchester City 4
Otamendi (52) Sterling (59) Stones (67) Brahim Diaz (81)
Real Madrid 1
Oscar (90)
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
The biog
Most memorable achievement: Leading my first city-wide charity campaign in Toronto holds a special place in my heart. It was for Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women program and showed me the power of how communities can come together in the smallest ways to have such wide impact.
Favourite film: Childhood favourite would be Disney’s Jungle Book and classic favourite Gone With The Wind.
Favourite book: To Kill A Mockingbird for a timeless story on justice and courage and Harry Potters for my love of all things magical.
Favourite quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
Favourite food: Dim sum
Favourite place to travel to: Anywhere with natural beauty, wildlife and awe-inspiring sunsets.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
