Yahoo News One of Manchester's most popular chicken shops has been 'operating illegally for 18 months'
A chicken shop in one of Manchester’s hippest neighbourhoods has been ‘operating illegally for 18 months’, it’s been revealed.
Bird of Prey, located on Charles Street in the Circle Square apartment and business complex in the city centre, admitted breaching its licence conditions from opening in 2022 until March of this year at a hearing on Monday (May 13). The takeaway, which is known for serving super-spicy ‘insanity wings’, was given permission to open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays by the council when it opened.
However, owner Sadaf Bukhari admitted at the hearing the shop had opened ‘until 3am for 18 months’. The licence breach was only discovered on March 11 of this year when police were called to remove a ‘gentleman’ who ‘was refusing’ to leave the premises, PC Alan Isherwood told the hearing.
Cops found that management had not displayed its licence publicly in the shop, and staff could not operate the CCTV system, as required. When challenged about this, Ms Bukhari admitted that she ‘lied’ to the police officer at the scene.
“That was childish,” she said in the Town Hall meeting. “I did not want to be exposed for the problem. On reflection I feel very, very silly for what I did but unfortunately I cannot undo what has been done.”
During the hearing, Ms Bukhari was asked why she did not adhere to the licence conditions — to which she replied that she ‘opened the email but not the attachments’ that contained her licence information.
“I failed in my responsibility on that,” she said. In mitigation of her ‘errors’, she added: “In June 2022 I was made redundant from a job in consulting. I finally secured a job in August 2022 so at the same time I was making these job applications there was a lot going on.
“I was also seven months pregnant. That’s not an excuse. The truth is I am human and I made several errors.”
For its part, Manchester City Council’s licensing compliance team said they had not received any complaints over the way the business was being run from neighbours.
The hearing was called because Ms Bukhari was applying for permission to open Bird of Prey until 4am. The owners applied for the variation of the hours because since closing at 1am as instructed, ‘we have stopped making money’, Ms Bukhari continued, ‘and that revenue on a Friday or Saturday night generates about £8,000 per month, which covers our rent and rates’.
The financial difficulties had led Ms Bukhari and her husband and business partner putting Bird of Prey up for sale, the hearing also heard. But that also created more issues, GMP said.
With a deal in principle agreed, PC Alan Ishwerwood argued the force ‘had no idea what [the new owners’] background will be’, making it difficult for the committee to ascertain if they could successfully run a late-night takeaway.
The panel of councillors judging the extension application agreed with the PC’s assessment of the situation, and denied the variation of hours bid.
“We have listened to the reasons you were operating illegally for 18 months and the mitigation put forward in regards to doing that,” committee chair Coun Paul Andrews said.
“We have a fundamental issue with the lying to police. That’s something we have taken deep concern to. We believe the relationship with GMP and the operator is key to making it work. To actually lie to the police is a big issue for us.
“We have discussed [the proposal of] operating until 4am and one of the concerns we have that the business is being sold. We have no idea if the new owners will be capable of operating to those hours.
On this occasion we are going to refuse the application for variation but the new owner, when they take over, will have the opportunity to make a new application. That’s the decision we have reached today. We wish you well.”
