Sir Alex Ferguson’s preferred Italian eatery has been hit with a hefty fine for employing workers without proper documentation.

Cibo, in the village of Hale, Greater Manchester, is a favourite haunt of the legendary former Manchester United manager, 83. 

Among its regular patrons are actress Michelle Keegan, originally from Stockport, and social media influencer Molly-Mae Hague, residing in Hale.

The upscale restaurant recently faced a substantial £56,000 fine for hiring undocumented workers, as reported by the Sun.

This followed a Home Office raid prompted by a tip-off about potential irregularities in employee documentation.

In response, bosses said some of the waiters were on trial shifts, rather than in full-time employment at the restaurant. 

Three staff members went on to be arrested on suspicion of working illegally. 

The eatery later confessed one former employee had worked there for three years under a false identity and without the right to work in the UK. 

Restaurant chiefs, who agreed to pay the Home Office charge, were warned they could lose their licence if similar problems arise in future. 

Alex Norris, minister for border security and asylum, said: ‘We are coming down hard on illegal working across the UK.’ 

A licensing review by Trafford Council emphasised to Cibo bosses the importance of due employment procedure. 

No kitchen staff or waiters should be able to work at the establishment without payment, the local authority noted. 

It also underlined checks must be done on all staff before they are taken on to make sure they have the right to work in this country. 

The council also implored the restaurant to ensure its workers were registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for tax and national insurance purposes. 

And it warned wages must be paid straight into a bank account and records of employees should be kept for five years. 

A report by Trafford Council officers for the local authority’s licensing sub-committee earlier this year reads: ‘We heard that during an intelligence led visit to the premises persons were working at the premises without a right to work within the United Kingdom. 

‘We were made aware that the premises licence holder disputed that some of those spoken to were employed at the premises as they were undertaking trial shifts. 

‘We noted some discrepancies in what we were told in the length of time those people had been undertaking that work.

‘We noted that the company admitted that it had re-engaged one former employee who had continued to work at the premises for a period of three years using a false identity and without a right to work in the United Kingdom.

‘We heard that the premises licence holder has replaced the DPS since this incident, there being an active consultation as to the suitability of the newly nominated DPS. 

‘We heard that the premises licence holder has reviewed the right to work of all its employees and has revised and improved its practices and procedures and appointed new advisers.

‘We heard that the premises licence holder had taken the advice from a person who held themselves out to be a solicitor, but who did not hold that qualification and had in consequence appealed against the civil penalty imposed by the Home Office. 

‘We understand that having taken professional advice the premises licence holder has withdrawn that appeal and has made a payment of £56,000 to the Home Office to settle the matter.

‘We were told that the premises licence holder would welcome any additional conditions that prevented any form of illegal working.’

Cibo, Trafford Council and the Home Office have been contacted for comment. 

It comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer said Labour has ‘shied away’ from confronting ‘people’s concerns’ around immigration and UK borders. 

The Prime Minister said at the Global Progress Action Summit in London on Friday there was ‘no doubt’ left-wing parties, including Labour, had avoided the matter ‘for years’. 

He continued: ‘It has been too easy for people to enter the country, work in the shadow economy and remain illegally.

‘We must be absolutely clear that tackling every aspect of the problem of illegal immigration is essential.’

Sir Keir’s summit speech came after a torrid summer marked by protests near hotels housing asylum seekers.

The campaign known as ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ has also seen flags attached to lampposts and signs throughout the UK.

The PM has announced the rollout of mandatory digital ID cards in a bid to crack down on those working illegally.

He insisted: ‘The simple fact is that every nation needs to have control over its borders…

‘It is not compassionate left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages. 

‘But the simple fact is that every nation needs to have control over its borders.’

The premier also set out a choice between ‘a politics of predatory grievance, preying on the problems of working people’ and ‘patriotic renewal, rooted in communities, building a better country, brick by brick, from the bottom up, including everyone in the national story’.

Turning to political discourse online, Sir Keir described ‘an industrialised infrastructure of grievance, an entire world, not just a world view, created through our devices’.

He will add: ‘That is miserable, joyless, demonstrably untrue, and yet, in another way, totally cohesive.

‘That preys on real problems in the real world, identifies clear enemies – that’s us.

‘And, at its heart, its most poisonous belief, on full display at the protests here in London just a week or two ago, (is) that there is a coming struggle, a defining struggle, a violent struggle, for the nation – or all our nations.’

Sir Keir warned of ‘a language that is naked in its attempt to intimidate’. 

And he said campaigners who think of themselves as progressive must look themselves ‘in the mirror’ and identify areas where they have allowed themselves ‘to shy away from people’s concerns’.