TWO town centre businesses have been fined following immigration breaches.

The Queens Fish and Chip shop on Rockfield Road and the Monmouth Fruit and Veg Shop in the Oldway Centre have been fined by Home Office Immigration Enforcement after investigations in 2025.

Ali Mohammed Ali of the Fruit and Veg shop was fined £45,000, and Grey Beards Ltd, who run the popular Queens Fish and Chip shop on Rockfield Road, was fined £40,000.

UK Immigration Enforcement announced the fines in its quarterly summary of civil penalties up to March 2026

In July 2025, Gwent Police confirmed officers were involved alongside immigration officials in a ‘safeguarding visit’ to a chip shop in the town on Wednesday July 23, saying no offences which fell into their power had arisen as a result of the operation.

Employers can receive a fine of up to £45,000 for a first breach and up to £60,000 for each repeat violation per illegal worker.

Immigration enforcement has become an increasingly visible issue, with another raid in Monmouth in April 2024 also leading to the owners of the Bubbles tea and dessert shop ibeing fined £45,000 for employing an illegal worker last year, a month after its closure.

The Bubbles tea shop was stripped of all its signage except doughnuts in the window when it shut last month, reverting to its previous incarnation as the Green and Jenks Gelato House
The Bubbles tea shop was stripped of all its signage except doughnuts in the window after it shut last year, reverting to its previous appearance as the Green and Jenks Gelato House (Beacon)

UK Immigration Enforcement announced the fine for Ice Boba Ltd trading as Bubbles at 11, Agincourt Square, Monmouth, in its quarterly summary of civil penalties for September 2025.