Yakamoz Goodramgate Keeps Licence Despite Home Office Bid

Councillors kept Yakamoz's licence on 16 October and added three right-to-work conditions. Immigration Enforcement had asked for revocation over a 2025 visit.

Yakamoz, the Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant at 55 Goodramgate, has kept its premises licence. Home Office Immigration Enforcement had asked City of York Council to revoke it.

A licensing sub-committee of Councillors Kilbane (chair), Baxter and Warters heard the review at West Offices on Friday 16 October. Instead of revoking the licence, it added three new conditions on right-to-work checks. The decision was published on 19 October (City of York Council, decision record).

What the panel decided

The panel reconvened in private at 10.46am and “resolved to modify the conditions of the licence”. The new conditions require the licence holder to:

carry out right-to-work checks on every prospective employee before they start, including people on trial shifts and casual workers
keep copies of the documents from those checks, stored securely at the restaurant or digitally accessible from it
produce those documents without delay when licensing officers, the police or Immigration Enforcement ask for them

The record labels this “Option 5”, which was the number the officer report gave to revocation. Its wording, though, is a modification of conditions, and the licence stays in force.

The council’s record does not say whether Immigration Enforcement kept to its request for revocation at the hearing. The panel’s written reasons have not been published.

Why the Home Office wanted the licence revoked

The review goes back to one enforcement visit. Immigration officers entered the restaurant at 7.20pm on 25 September 2025, using powers under section 179 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Immigration Enforcement evidence pack, redacted).

They arrested one man, who was preparing food in the kitchen in a chef’s uniform and hair net. Home Office checks showed he had never held the right to work in the UK and was in breach of his immigration bail conditions. Officers found a key to the back door of the premises in his wallet, and a photograph on his phone, dated 3 June 2025, of him in the same uniform chopping food.

The man first told officers he had come in for a cup of tea. He later said he often helped wash dishes and was sometimes given food in return. The owner at the time told officers that apart from a National Insurance number, he made no other checks before anyone started work.

The pack says Home Office guidance treats illegal working “particularly seriously” and that revocation “even in the first instance should be seriously considered”. Its conclusion was plain: “Immigration Enforcement asks that the premises licence is revoked.” Extra conditions or a suspension, it argued, would not deter other employers.

Timeline of the Yakamoz licence review: Immigration Enforcement visit on 25 September 2025 with one worker arrested; £45,000 civil penalty issued 25 November 2025 and maintained 10 December; payment due 9 January 2026 and still unpaid; Yakamoz York Ltd into liquidation 24 June 2026; review application received 25 August 2026; licence transferred to a new holder from 27 August; sub-committee keeps the licence with three new conditions on 16 October 2026 — Graphic by The York Times. Sources: City of York Council hearing report and Immigration Enforcement evidence pack; Companies House.

The £45,000 penalty and the company’s liquidation

Immigration Enforcement issued Yakamoz York Ltd with a £45,000 civil penalty on 25 November 2025 for employing someone with no right to work. The company objected on 5 December. The penalty was reconsidered and kept at £45,000 on 10 December, with payment due on 9 January 2026. The pack says nothing has been paid and the debt has gone to a third-party recovery specialist.

Yakamoz York Ltd entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 24 June 2026, with a liquidator appointed the same day (Companies House, company 12777448).

A new licence holder two days after the review was lodged

The licence has changed hands since the case began. The council’s report says the review application arrived on 25 August 2026. Two days later, on 27 August, an application was made to transfer the licence (officer report, paragraph 7).

On 1 September the new holder also applied to become the designated premises supervisor. Nobody objected to either application. So the person the panel was ruling on is not the person named in the Home Office’s application. No other authority, including North Yorkshire Police, made a representation on the review.

The licence, first granted on 1 August 2019, allows alcohol sales and recorded music from noon to 10.30pm every day, the same as the restaurant’s opening hours.

Can anyone appeal?

Yes. Under the Licensing Act 2003 a decision to modify conditions can be appealed to the magistrates’ court by the licence holder, by Immigration Enforcement as the applicant, or by anyone who made a representation. The appeal period is 21 days from notice of the decision. The council’s report says the decision does not take effect until that period ends, or until any appeal is decided.

The kitchen holds a two-star hygiene rating

Separately, Yakamoz was rated 2 out of 5 for food hygiene when City of York Council inspected on 22 May 2026 (Food Standards Agency). The register records “improvement necessary” for hygienic food handling, for the cleanliness and condition of the building, and for management of food safety. Businesses can ask for a re-inspection and have a right of reply on the FSA register.

What it means for you

If you eat there: the restaurant can keep trading and serving alcohol under its existing hours, noon to 10.30pm.
If you run a York restaurant or bar: a single illegal worker was enough for the Home Office to seek revocation and a £45,000 penalty. The right-to-work check is free, and doing it before someone starts, including on a trial shift, is what protects an employer. The guidance is on GOV.UK.
If you want to compare: in September a different panel revoked Sky Blue’s licence on Barbican Road after two immigration visits there. Yakamoz is listed in our York business directory, and more council decisions are in our York planning news.