A Hanwell supermarket and its director and manager have been handed fines totalling more than a quarter of a million pounds for serious food safety failings and selling illegal tobacco.
A joint operation by Ealing Council’s food safety and trading standards teams uncovered filthy conditions in the shop, including a mouse infestation in its butchery section. Officers also found thousands of packets of illicit tobacco. A sample amount was sent for testing and found to be counterfeit.
At 2 separate court hearings, New Aya Supermarket Ltd, now trading as Hanwell Local Food & Wine, in Greenford Avenue, Hanwell, and its director and manager were ordered to pay more than £260,000 in fines and costs.
Court’s decision
At Isleworth Crown Court, on 2 May 2025, New Aya Supermarket Ltd’s manager, Amrik Arora, of Bodicea Mews in Whitton, pleaded guilty to the sale of illegal tobacco and was ordered to pay a proceeds of crime confiscation order of £228,918.15.
At Isleworth Crown Court on 15 July 2025, New Aya Supermarket Ltd, its director Amarjeet Arora, of Heartland Road, Isleworth, and Amrik Arora, the manager, both pleaded guilty to a number of food hygiene and illegal tobacco offences.
Amrik Arora was sentenced to a 12-month community order of 250 hours unpaid work, a £2,863 fine and £16,000 court costs.
Amarjeet Arora was ordered to pay a £666 fine. New Aya Supermarket Ltd was ordered to pay a £12,000 fine and £4,000 court costs.
The food safety offences included failing to control pests, failing to keep equipment clean and failing to register a new business. The pair also knowingly broke a council hygiene emergency prohibition notice, instructing the business to stop trading after a routine inspection revealed the failings.
The images used at the top of this article were taken at New Aya Supermarket Ltd during the inspections by council’s officers.
Illegal cigarettes
The court heard that during a routine trading standards and licensing inspection at the business in July 2021, council officers found 1,188 packets of illicit tobacco (23,760 cigarettes), 16 packets of illicit rolling tobacco, and 57 containers of illicit shisha.
All of the illegal products were seized and will be destroyed.
Food safety concerns
During an unannounced food hygiene inspection later in July 2021, council officers found an infestation of mice and poor cleaning standards. Old, dried meat was noted on a meat mincer, as well as dirty surfaces and filth ingrained in cracks in the wall. Officers deemed the dirty conditions to be an imminent risk to public health and ordered the shop to close immediately.
The business owners requested 2 further inspections later in July 2021, but mice – both dead and alive – were also found on those occasions and the closure order remained in place. It was only lifted after a fourth inspection.
New Aya Supermarket Ltd is still trading as Hanwell Local Food & Wine and its food hygiene rating is currently 3, meaning hygiene standards are generally satisfactory.
‘Keeping residents safe’
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, the council’s 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. While most food businesses in the borough operate responsibly and uphold high standards, we have zero tolerance for those that don’t.
“The record number of inspections we have undertaken in recent years reflects our dedication to protecting residents and ensuring that their safety is never compromised.”
Stay informed, stay safe
You can check the hygiene rating of a food business on the Food Standards Agency website.
To tell the council about a food business that you have concerns about, email foodsafety@ealing.gov.uk or tradingstandards@ealing.gov.uk.
