Immigration enforcement raid officers were seen outside the former HG Wells pub in Worcester Park yesterday morning (February 6), which had been closed for a few years before it was put up for sale in November 2021.
Since then, the pub in Cheam Common Road has been boarded up, covered in graffiti and has complaints of “squatters” causing “constant stress”.
Last year, a car wash opened up in the car park, which Sutton and Cheam MP Luke Taylor said “would mean securing the building and stopping fly-tipping”.
However following the clamp down on illegal workers yesterday, the car wash has been removed from the site.
It is understood six people were at the site, five of whom were cleared as they had a leave to remain permit which allows non-UK citizens to stay in the UK for a set period of time.
A Romanian male has been bailed with an outstanding court date.
“Organised immigration crime is a multi-million pound industry, which stretches from the trafficking routes thousands of miles away through which people are brought to our country to the high streets across Britain where many of those people end up working illegally.
“As part of our plan for change, this government is taking action against that criminal industry at every level, including stepping up our raids on restaurants, car washes, nail bars, construction sites, and other businesses where illegal working is taking place, and increasing our arrests of illegal workers and the people who employ them.”
