One of Manchester’s most popular chicken shops ‘has been operating illegally for 18 months’

A chicken shop in one of Manchester’s most popular neighborhoods has been “operating illegally for 18 months”, it has been revealed.

Bird of Prey, located on Charles Street in the Circle Square business and apartment complex in the city centre, admitted to breaching its license conditions from opening in 2022 until March this year at a hearing on Monday ( May 13). The takeaway, which is known for serving super spicy ‘madness wings’, was given permission to open until 1am on Friday and Saturday by the council when it opened.

However, owner Sadaf Bukhari admitted at the hearing that the shop had been open “until 3am for 18 months”. The breach of the license was only discovered on March 11 this year when police were called to remove a “gentleman” who was “refusing” to leave the premises, PC Alan Isherwood told the hearing.

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Officers found that management did not publicly display their license in the store and staff were unable to operate the CCTV system as required. When challenged about this, Ms Bukhari admitted that she had “lied” to the police officer at the scene.

“It was childish,” she said at the Town Hall meeting. “I didn’t want to be exposed for the problem. On reflection, I feel really, really bad for what I did, but unfortunately I can’t undo what’s been done.”

During the hearing, Ms Bukhari was asked why she did not comply with the license conditions – to which she replied that she “opened the email but not the attachments” containing the license information.

“I failed my responsibility in this,” she said. To play down her ‘mistakes’, she added: ‘In June 2022 I was fired from a consulting job. I finally secured a job in August 2022, so at the same time I was doing these job applications, there was a lot going on.

“I was also seven months pregnant. That is not an excuse. The truth is, I’m human and I’ve made more mistakes.”

For its part, Manchester City Council’s licensing compliance team said it had not received any complaints about the way the business was being run from neighbours.

The hearing was called because Ms Bukhari was seeking permission to open Bird of Prey until 4am. The owners requested the change in hours because, from closing at 1 a.m. as instructed, “we haven’t stopped making money,” Ms. Bukhari continued, “and that revenue on a Friday or Saturday night generates about 8,000 of pounds per month which covers our rent. and tariffs’.

Financial difficulties prompted Ms Bukhari and her husband and business partner to put Bird of Prey up for sale, the hearing also heard. But that created even more problems, GMP said.

With an agreement in principle agreed, PC Alan Ishwerwood claimed the force “had no idea what (the new owners”) was going to be the background”, making it difficult for the committee to determine whether they could successfully carry out a late takeaway.

The board of advisers that judged the request for extension agreed with CP’s assessment of the situation and denied the variation in bidding hours.

“We have listened to the reasons why you have operated illegally for 18 months and the mitigation proposed in relation to that,” said committee chairman Councilor Paul Andrews.

“We have a fundamental problem with police lying. This is something we have been deeply concerned about. We believe the relationship with GMP and the operator is key to making this work. Actually lying to the police is a big deal for us.

“We discussed (the proposal) operating until 4am and one of the concerns we have is that the business is being sold. We have no idea if the new owners will be able to operate those hours.

On this occasion we are going to refuse the change request but the new owner, when he takes over, will have the opportunity to make a new request. This is the decision we have reached today. We wish you well.”