A RESTAURATEUR has appeared in court for illegally allowing people to eat food late at night.
The owner of the Shalimar Gardens Indian restaurant and takeaway broke the law because he did not have a licence which would let customers have meals after midnight.
Hamid Ali, 20, of Cedar Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to keeping a refreshment house open without a late-night licence.
The maximum sentence which could have been imposed on him was a three-month prison sentence, plus a £2,500 fine and disqualification from having a late-night refreshment house licence.
Ali was given a six months conditional discharge and ordered to pay £60 costs by Blackpool magistrates.
Prosecutor Alison Quanbrough, said police visited the Shalimar Gardens on the resort's Talbot Road.
Officers saw 12 people at three tables eating food, despite the fact the premises had no late licence allowing customers to consume food after midnight.
On May 2, at 1.10am, police again went to the premises and saw eight people in the restaurant.
Chris Capaldi, defending, said an application for a late-night refreshment licence was going before Blackpool Borough Council.
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