A former bingo hall in Harrogate has been converted into a lap-dancing club.  Much to the shock of the more genteel residents.

Between now and the early hours, a "bevy of beautiful house dancers" will be tempting customers away from the bar and into dark private booths where, for £20, they will perform an intimate striptease. There is growing concern, not just in well-heeled Harrogate but across the UK, at the rapid increase in the number of table dancing clubs.

While once they were to be found mainly in London and a few other large cities, they are now springing up in smaller towns, sometimes close to residential areas. There may already be as many as 200 joints across the UK. Many local authorities are worried that their areas could be effected and are calling on the government to strengthen or at least clarify the laws while women's groups are organising campaigns to expose what they see as the exploitation of the dancers.

The antis may be fighting a losing battle. For as well as growing in popularity, lapdancing also seems to be becoming more respectable. Celebrity endorsement has helped. The likes of Robbie Williams and Sophie Dahl have been spotted at lap-dancing clubs. Some commentators have come out in support of the clubs. Only this month the editor at large of Tatler, Nicola Formby, wrote: Every time I watch those girls slide up and down or gyrate six inches away from my nose, I rather enjoy it.

Club owners are making it possible by transforming their premises from the cheap, dangerous dives they once were into clean, safe and comfortable premises.

The California-based Spearmint Rhino chain, which is behind the Harrogate club, claims it is leading the way. In the past the company has run into problems with local authorities and the police who suggested the women at Spearmint's flagship club in Tottenham Court Road, central London, might be getting overly friendly with the visitors. Its custom of allowing girls to dance in booths has prompted fears that the "no touching" policy could be open to abuse.

The club also attracted controversy when it emerged that its founder, John Gray, a flamboyant character who boasts that his wife is a "world class porn star", had convictions for fraud.

The problems seem to have been ironed out and the Tottenham Court Road club has become hugely successful, especially with corporate clients - bankers, lawyers, showbusiness types, even the odd journalist - who spend vast amounts of money entertaining customers and contacts.

The club's marketing has also been brilliant. Its name - accompanied by an image of a suitably glamorous woman - has been splashed so often across billboards and the pages of newspapers and magazines that it has rapidly become one of the UK's most instantly recognisable "adult entertainment" brands.

Perhaps surprisingly, there have been few complaints about the posters. Since 1999 the Advertising Standards Agency has received nine but has not felt the need to investigate as it felt the images were "unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence". Marketing people believe that one of Spearmint's triumphs has been to make its business seem so normal.

Mr Gray became convinced the success of the London operation could be repeated away from the capital and in November Harrogate became the sixth Spearmint Rhino. The company has ambitions of opening another 100 clubs within the next five years. It already has its eyes on another site in London, one in Leeds and two in Scotland. It may eventually try to float on the stock exchange.

Many local authorities will be blanching at the idea. They are responsible for issuing licences but are frustrated at a loophole in the law which allows any establishment with a public entertainment licence to convert into a lap-dancing club. This is what happened in Harrogate, with the previous licensee staying on to run the new club. In Birmingham, where Ronnie Scott's jazz club was recently turned into the city's ninth lap-dancing joint, the city council's scrutiny committee has called for the licensing committee to limit the number of establishments.

Camden council, which oversees seven clubs in north and central London including Spearmint Rhino, is reviewing its licensing policy and proposing to follow a New York model to stop clusters of sex establishments. For its part, the government has published a white paper on the licensing laws but, to the disappointment of many local authorities, does not specifically tackle the issue of of lap-dancing clubs.

Some women's groups are taking action. In Newcastle upon Tyne a group has held demonstrations outside a club and tried to embarrass customers by posting photos of them on a website called www.theyhavetopayforit.com. The club claims the kudos of appearing on the site actually boosted its trade. (Saying that nutter site is somewhat morribund as the protesters clearly aren't keen enough to make the effort to maintain it)

By 10.30pm Spearmint Rhino in Harrogate, is starting to fill up. Having paid their £15 admission fee, customers - most in suits, some in groups but several alone - watch as the dancers take turns to wrap themselves around a pole on a stage and strip to the soft rock beat. Their colleagues, dressed in flowing gowns and immaculately groomed, work the leopard skin print floor.

They giggle and flirt as they persuade the customers to buy private dances. They are taught to find out a customer's name and use it a certain number of times. For £10 they will take their tops off. For £20 they will strip completely. The rules are clear. Gentlemen must remain seated during a dance, with their hands at their sides ... There must be no touching of the dancers except when paying a fee into the dancer's hand or garter.

The club's opening appalled many resident nutters and the job centre refused to carry adverts for bar staff and waitresses. A Conservative councillor, Jean Butterfield, said: I think people were saddened. They didn't think Harrogate was that sort of town.

But it has done well. On a busy night curious thirtysomethings from out of town mingle with regulars who use it as a late night drinking den and visiting business men. The average age of the customers - probably because of the prices - is 40 to 45.

When a conference is on in the town the club is almost always packed. A few professional footballers - the club is too discreet to name names - have also suddenly begun to find a night out in Harrogate an attractive proposition. Concessions have been made to local custom. For example, draught beer is sold here (£4 a pint) but not at clubs in London. It was thought the locals would not like the idea of bottled beer.

But the basic Spearmint formula is the same. Ellie Donnachie, the licensee, said: It's all about fantasy. Men who'd never normally have a chance with girls like this are made to feel they are the best thing since sliced bread. I can understand why someone would throw £20 at that.

The club has about 150 women on its books. Two live in Harrogate but most travel from as far away as Leicester and Nottingham. The money is good. The dancers pay a "house fee" to perform and can earn hundreds of pounds - and on special occasions perhaps up to £1,000 - a night. The top earners are not necessarily the most beautiful but are the most accomplished at working the room.

Ms Donnachie does not accept the women are being exploited. They are earning more money than me and probably more than the men who are paying them. They are no fools. They know just what they are doing. I think working at a club like this has become respectable.

Will the formula work in other towns? The Spearmint people know that if it works in Harrogate, it will probably work anywhere. Ellie's take is simple: Of course it will - every town has got a population of men.