BAILIFFS have seized goods from a restaurant that owes the council more than £130,000 in unpaid bills.

Enforcement action has been taken against Day's Restaurant, more recently known as Ocean Palace Brighton.

Bosses owe Brighton and Hove City Council more than £132,000 in unpaid business rates.

Now the council has secured the building in East Street in an effort to recover the money.

Enforcement officers went in and removed goods on Monday.

The business rate arrears date back to when the firm began trading as Day's in 2017.

Companies House lists one director for the firm, a Mr Lixing Wang, a 39-year-old Chinese chef of Bond Street in Brighton.

He registered as a director on July 6 this year.

The council said: "We have a legal duty to collect business rates.

"These help pay for essential local services, particularly services for those residents who are vulnerable.

"We will consider all the options available to us to try to recover from businesses in the city who try to avoid paying tax which contributes to supporting the city."

The council added: "Before we consider enforcement action we always try to work in partnership with businesses to help them avoid problems.

"Prior to any action we send bills, reminders, and other communications to offer help at each stage and we encourage businesses to contact us so that we can help them come to a suitable and sustainable arrangement.

"However the proprietors of Day's - Ocean Palace Brighton Limited – have been actively and systematically avoiding payment and have ignored our efforts to reach a reasonable arrangement regarding payment.

“Using Enforcement Agents to seize goods is always a last resort and a step the council would rather not take."

Food industry expert Nick Mosley, managing director of Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival, said: “Unfortunately this kind of situation is far more common than people may think.

"Numerous hospitably businesses across the city have not only massively outstanding business rates, PAYE and VAT bills, but also debts to suppliers; that isn’t confined to any particular sector of the industry in terms of business size, scale or longevity.

"For an assortment of reasons financial margins are incredibly tight in hospitality at the moment, and whilst its sad to see a business fail and staff redundancies, it is of course imperative that businesses like individuals pay their taxes."