A Putney beauty studio has lost its licence after Wandsworth’s licensing committee found its majority shareholder forged council documents and was still running the business behind the scenes.
The committee refused to renew The Pilates Room’s special treatment licence on 5 March, naming Mario Perez as not a fit and proper person. The formal decision notice, issued on 17 March, found Perez had forged Wandsworth Council emails, a licence and invoices, and had charged tenants at the linked premises Therapy Rooms Putney for licence applications he never submitted.
On the same day, Therapy Rooms Putney withdrew its own licence application before the committee reached a decision. Both Upper Richmond Road premises have now lost their licensing position.
The case has been covered by Putney.news since January, when council inspectors found unlicensed laser and microblading treatments being carried out at Therapy Rooms Putney. The March hearing was held in private because a criminal investigation was already under way.
What the committee found
Licensing officer James McGann told the committee that Therapy Rooms Putney “had never been legitimately licensed” and that Perez was “directly involved or complicit in the forgery of Wandsworth Council emails, licence and invoices.”
Perez also “charged tenants operating at Therapy Rooms Putney for lodging licensing applications and renewals but no licence application was ever submitted and tenants were therefore deceived into thinking they were operating lawfully,” McGann said.
Perez resigned as director of The Pilates Room Ltd on 2 January 2026. The committee found the timing suspicious. McGann said it had led the Licensing Authority to conclude Perez “continued to exert influence over and shadow manage the business.”
The committee’s concern was concrete: Perez holds 100 shares in The Pilates Room Ltd to Deborah Henley’s 50. “His previous long-term association with the company (retaining 100 shares to Ms Henley’s 50 shares) left members concerned that he would continue to exert influence,” the committee found.
Henley’s position
Henley, now the sole director, had co-directed the business with Perez for 12 years. She told the committee she had not been involved in the Therapy Rooms side of the business and had run the Pilates studio since 2001.
But she also told the committee that Perez had asked her to make the renewal application. The committee found that “if it were the case that the previous director no longer had influence on the business, she would have gone out of her way to explain that to the Licensing Sub-Committee.” She had not.
The committee did not find Henley complicit in the wrongdoing. It found she had not done enough to demonstrate independence from someone it had already determined was not fit and proper.
Criminal investigation
The criminal investigation is being conducted by Wandsworth Council itself. McGann is both the officer who presented the licensing case and the investigating officer for the criminal proceedings.
“Wandsworth Council is undertaking the criminal investigation, and I am the investigating officer,” he confirmed this week. He said he could provide no further update while the investigation is live. The decision notice states Perez has not been cooperative.
What happens next
The committee left a door open. It said “if anything else could be done to show Ms Henley’s independence, then the Licensing Sub-Committee may approach this differently,” noting her long management of the premises and its preference for the studio to be “fully licenced.”
Operators at The Pilates Room can continue to trade during the 21-day appeal window. Any practitioner at either premises can apply for their own special treatment licence, independent of Perez. The right of appeal is to Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court and must be lodged within 21 days of notification.
Therapy Rooms Putney was near-deserted ahead of a February hearing that was later postponed. It has now ceased as a licensed business.
If you work at The Pilates Room
Individual practitioners at 226 Upper Richmond Road can apply for their own special treatment licence from Wandsworth Council independently of The Pilates Room Ltd. Contact the licensing team at licensing@merton.gov.uk.
Deborah Henley can appeal to Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court, 176a Lavender Hill, London SW11 1JU, within 21 days of notification.
