Reading Indian restaurant applies for alcohol sales

GM Restaurants, the company that runs the Gulab Indian Kitchen in East Reading, has applied to sell food, and alcohol and play music until 12.30am each night.

The licence application has been submitted five years after the premises licence for the restaurant was revoked after five illegal immigrants were found working at the premises in 2018. 

An unsuccessful appeal at Reading Magistrates Court led to the licence being revoked in full in June 2019.

The owners have been banned from selling alcohol since then.

READ MORE: Curry house loses licensing appeal after illegal immigrant discoveries

The restaurant was previously run by Jamshed Miah, who founded the Miah's collection of restaurants with branches in Spencers Wood and Pangbourne.

Mr Miah announced his retirement in a post online in the Winter of 2020.

The post states: "After nearly 40 years, I have decided that I am leaving the Garden of Gulab restaurant on Wokingham Road in Reading and letting a new, younger team take over.

"This was not an easy decision but the effects of the recent Covid 19 restrictions have convinced me that, perhaps, now is the time to concentrate on my family and interests outside the restaurant business.

READ MORE: Restaurant owner apologises after discovery of illegal immigrants at premises

"This was my first ever restaurant and over the years I have been honoured to provide award winning and innovative Indian cuisine for many in the local area and beyond.

"I would like to thank all of my customers for their support and friendship over the years."

The restaurant in Wokingham Road was previously called Miah's Garden of Gulab. 

Gulab Indian Kitchen in Wokingham Road, East Reading. (Image: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service)

It had been named as a Top 100 Indian restaurant in the British Curry Awards from 2012 to 2015.

It is understood that the restaurant in Wokingham Road has been passed on to employees who worked at the Miah's branches in Spencers Wood and Pangbourne.

Miahs of Pangbourne Indian cuisine restaurant. (Image: Google Maps)

The statement continued: "I also want to thank my incredible staff for the loyalty and commitment they have shown me and the restaurant over the years, as without them I could not have achieved anywhere near the success Gulab has enjoyed.

"It is for this reason that, now I am stepping aside, I wanted to give them first option of setting up a new business to build on the traditions they have helped to create.

"I could have offered the premises as a ready-to-go business on the open market, but I wanted to be sure of leaving the restaurant in good and capable hands."

Miah's Indian cuisine restaurant in Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood. (Image: Google Maps)

The application to sell alcohol again, serve food and play music until 12.30am has been submitted to Reading Borough Council.

You can comment on the application by emailing licensing@reading.gov.uk.  The closing date for representations is Tuesday, January 30.

Of the five illegal immigrants discovered at Miah's Garden of Gulab in 2018, three had overstayed their visas and two had entered the UK illegally.

Reading Borough Council's licensing applications committee revoked the licence in November 2018, but the sale of alcohol was allowed to continue until an unsuccessful appeal during a two-day hearing at Reading Magistrate's Court in June 2019 confirmed the revocation.