A Hanwell supermarket, along with its director and manager have been fined more than £260,000 after Ealing Council inspectors uncovered filthy conditions, a mouse infestation and thousands of packets of illicit tobacco.
A joint operation by Ealing Council’s food safety and trading standards teams at New Aya Supermarket Ltd – now trading as Hanwell Local Food & Wine in Greenford Avenue – revealed ingrained dirt, dried meat on machinery and live and dead mice in the butchery section. Officers also found 1,188 packets of illicit cigarettes, 16 packets of rolling tobacco and 57 containers of illicit shisha, later confirmed as counterfeit.
At Isleworth Crown Court on 2 May 2025, the store’s manager, Amrik Arora, of Bodicea Mews, Whitton, admitted selling illegal tobacco and was ordered to pay a proceeds of crime confiscation order of £228,918.15.
At a separate hearing on 15 July, the company, its director, Amarjeet Arora, of Heartland Road, Isleworth, and the manager pleaded guilty to multiple food hygiene and tobacco offences. Amrik Arora received a 12-month community order with 250 hours of unpaid work, a £2,863 fine and £16,000 in court costs. Amarjeet Arora was fined £666. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 in costs.
The court heard that repeated inspections in July 2021 found mice and unhygienic conditions, including dirty equipment and poor cleaning standards. The shop was twice ordered to close and only allowed to reopen after a fourth inspection.
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, Ealing Council cabinet member for decent living incomes, said: “We will not hesitate to hold businesses accountable when their reckless actions put our residents at risk. Safety must never be sacrificed for financial gain.”
The supermarket remains open and as of 6 July 2025 currently holds a food hygiene rating of three – meaning standards are “generally satisfactory”.
To report food safety concerns, email: foodsafety@ealing.gov.uk or tradingstandards@ealing.gov.uk.
