The “sickening” stench of rotting food coming from a shut takeaway has forced a nearby business to temporarily flee its premises.

So powerful was the smell surrounding Chop Chop, in Canterbury, it took contractors dressed in protective gear two days to clear the rubbish.

The Chinese restaurant in St Dunstan’s Street shut down unexpectedly after immigration officers discovered five illegal workers during a sting on June 30.

Neighbour Jack Dent, the owner of web design firm Bryter Digital, told KentOnline the foul odour has forced his staff to work from home.

“We first noticed the smell and flies on August 8 and reported it [to Canterbury City Council] the next day, so it took a while to get it cleared,” he said yesterday.

“We’ve still got an ongoing problem with the smell and my staff have not yet returned to the office.

“The properties are very old so I guess the stench has seeped through.

“I’m paying for a full fumigation tomorrow and will have to redecorate our entire first floor before it’s comfortable enough to work in.”

Mr Dent will rip up the carpets and repaint rooms due to the whiff which his staff described as the “worst thing they had ever smelt”.

“They said it smelt so bad they felt physically sick,” he added.

“There’s a structure at the back of next door’s garden so the smell and flies were coming out of it for two weeks before it was cleaned.”

Canterbury City Council received a complaint about a nasty odour on August 15 and eight days later entered the premises to discover a walk-in chiller filled with rotten food.

Shane Foster, co-owner of E Hedger Butcher to the other side of the smelly Chinese takeaway, says the firm was forced to shut doors and windows while the council worked to remove the waste.

“The smell was very strong and very noticeable when they were taking the stuff out,” he said. “Unfortunately, to take it out they had to take it out into the street – it was very bad.

“I was very worried about it affecting my business.

“Obviously, we didn't want to give anyone the impression it was coming from us, because it never would be, given the high standards we have here.”

Wearing breathing apparatus, contractors removed a significant number of waste bags, with the smell having a profound effect on residents.

A resident, who asked not to be named, told how the acrid stench made them feel nauseous and likened the experience to a “physical encounter”.

They said: “Not working in forensics or having never been to a warzone, I would suggest it was a smell that if I had lingered near any further I would have been physically sick.

“I couldn't imagine a worse smell than that. It was a physical encounter rather than an unpleasant one.”

They described seeing residents gathered around the eatery trying to investigate where the scent was coming.

“The smell intensified to a point where I saw men in white protective clothing and full head masks, and breathing apparatus entering the Chinese with bags, which they then put on a lorry,” the neighbour said.

Staff at nearby art gift shop Platform were forced to work from home when the smell was most intense, a worker explained.

“It was me that first reported the smell to the council, and yes, my staff in the agency have been working from home and we closed the shop when the smell was at its worst,” they said.

Canterbury City Council said it received a complaint on August 15.

A spokesman said: “Officers were not able to trace the leaseholder, but were able to get access to a key from the freeholder of the building and visited the premises on Friday, August 18.

“A walk-in chiller full of rotten food was found to be the source of the smell.

“An abatement notice was served on the leaseholder on Tuesday, August 22, giving them 24 hours to resolve the problem.

“No action was taken and we returned the following day with a cleaning contractor to begin the process of removing the food – work that continued into the next day due to the volume of food involved."

The spoiled meat, vegetables and ingredients had been sitting there for a month-and-a-half.

‘I couldn't imagine a worse smell than that...’

A notice on the door of the restaurant simply says: “We are closed until further notice”.

During the Home Office’s inspection back in June, officers found multiple employees who had either overstayed their time in the UK or were an absconder.

A 45-year-old Chinese woman and a 42-year-old Chinese man were taken into immigrant detention.

A Malaysian woman, 36, was encountered and has made an asylum claim and two Chinese men aged 34 and 41 have now been removed from the UK.

The employer was slapped with a Civil Penalty Referral Notice for each of the illegal workers identified, making them liable for a fine of up to £20,000 per illegal worker.

They were also served a further notice relating to them acting as a landlord for the illegal workers.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Illegal working causes untold harm to our communities, cheating honest workers out of employment, putting vulnerable people at risk, and defrauding the public purse.

“Illegal working visits are up by more than 50% on last year and arrests have more than doubled, with more people arrested in 2023 than during the whole of 2022 as a result of this activity.

“We are also removing those with no right to be in the UK.”

Chop Chop was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.