UK Sex Sells News

Coventry Women's Voices asked Dr James Harrison (co-director of the Centre for Human Rights in Practice at the School of Law in the University of Warwick) about the legality of council bans on lap dancing.

Harrison wrote:

Sexual Entertainment Venues -- A rational decision that no venues should be granted licenses in a particular area will not breach human rights law

...

Local authorities must make some form of assessment of the character of the locality as the basis for any decision that nil is the appropriate number. However, as long as local authorities make some form of rational assessment of the character of the area this is highly unlikely (one could even go as far as to say almost impossible) to be subject to any kind of successful legal challenge. The courts have always given a great deal of discretion to public authorities in cases where they are exercising this kind of social control. Unlike in issues of fair trial or arbitrary detention, this is not an area where judges see themselves as particular experts, they therefore tend to defer to the greater knowledge and sensitivity of local decision-makers.

In the case of Belfast City Council v Miss Behavin' Ltd (Northern Ireland) the House of Lords found that there was no breach of Article 10 (freedom of expression) or Article 1, Protocol 1 (right to property) of the European Convention of Human Rights because Belfast City Council had failed to grant a licence for a sex shop on the basis that the appropriate number of sex shops in the relevant locality was nil.

The judges in the House of Lords found that Article 10 and Article 1 Protocol 1 were engaged but at a very low level -- Access to pornography was not seen by the judges as a very important issue that needed high levels of protection. This means that a local council will almost certainly be justified in restricting those rights as long as it makes its [nil policy] decision in a rational and reasonable way and in relation to each application it receives.

...Read the full article

A few feminists dressed as  butchers in aprons smeared with fake blood to protests against an adult industry conference in Central London. They explained that they were protesting against the meat market of the pornography industry.

The activists waved hopefully fake meat cleavers and chanted You're not welcome in our city, Pornographers go home!

The US based XBiz adult trade group is having a three day EU conference in Bloomsbury.

Speakers include Michael Klein, president of Hustler, and Berth Milton, chairman and chief executive of Private Media Group. The Xbiz website describes the conference as designed to deliver cutting-edge educational seminars, engaging technology workshops, special guest keynote presentations and high-energy business-networking and deal-making opportunities .

Watching the protest, Claire Wigington, head of marketing of Television X, said:. It's easy to say 'porn degrades women' but the women in the industry know what they're doing .

A nna van Heeswijk, the campaigns co-ordinator of the activist group Object organised the protest along with UK Feminista and other groups.

US religious organisations are gearing up to save London from the mythical hoard of 40,000 trafficked sex workers that travels the world's major sporting events.

The prime movers in the Olympic initiative are Christian Brothers Investment Services, a US fund manager that specialises in investing the money of Catholic institutions.

The project is also backed by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a broader US Christian coalition that speaks for investors, and, in the UK, the Church Investors Group, which encompasses the investments of the Church of England and Church of Ireland.

At the heart of their 'concerns' is the mostly mythical issue of human trafficking, which 'often' takes place for the purposes of prostitution. Major sporting or cultural events tend to bring in an influx of visitors and these periods have been linked with increases in trafficking, prostitution and sexual assault.

At last year's football World Cup in South Africa and at the US Super Bowl this year, Christian Brothers and the Interfaith Center fired off letters to publicly-quoted hotel and leisure groups asking them to detail their policies for avoiding association with this sex trafficking thing. After the South African campaign, hotel chains Hyatt, Accor, Carlson and NH Hoteles introduced training programmes for staff; and Accor, Carlson and NH signed up to an industry code of practice on countering sex trafficking.

At a meeting in Paris last week, Christian investor groups from around the world agreed to work more closely together. The London campaign will be one of their first joint initiatives. The UK and Irish churches have agreed to begin writing to UK-listed hotel groups - along similar lines to the previous South African and US campaigns.

In a statement announcing the tie-up, Richard Nunn, the chair of the Church Investors Group, said: It is important we use our voice as investors to hold companies to high ethical standards.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is leading objections to an application to open a new strip club in the city, 150m from the side entrance to the Hippodrome Theatre.

The ballet fears that young dancers, as well as children who take part in workshops, will be exposed to undesirables by having lap dancing nearby at Scarlets Gentlemen's Club on Horsefair.

In a letter to the council's licensing committee, the ballet said: We feel that the introduction of an sexual entertainment venue in such close proximity presents an unnecessary danger to young people, many of whom are extremely vulnerable.

And BRB chief executive Christopher Barron said: ort many forms of entertainment ...BUT... we feel an adult entertainment establishment of this kind, so close to a venue that attracts family audiences and young people, would not be in keeping with the current environment that encourages people of Birmingham and their families to the area.

[What a load of bollox!, The 'current environment that encourages people of Birmingham and their families to the area', is in fact one of the binge drinking areas of Birmingham city centre, not to mention being the gay zone of Birmingham too].

Also objecting on the same grounds are the Hippodrome Theatre and Dance Xchange. Hippodrome chief executive Stuart Griffiths is claiming that the site is the wrong place for a strip club: The proposed location in Thorp Street is very close to public entrances to the theatre where children and families access the theatre, he said. For this reason we feel it would be inappropriate.

Scarlets owner Michelle Monaghan is also hoping to secure permission to introduce pole dancing, stripping and lap dancing at another venue, Mischkas at The Cyclone Club on Broad Street. Ms Monaghan said that she has eight years' experience running night spots, is well aware of her responsibilities and has consulted police on crime and security matters for both venues.

Scarlets is one of eight strip clubs hoping to secure a license under Birmingham City Council's new lap dancing policy. It is the only one to have attracted formal objections. The owners of all eight clubs will appear before the licensing committee on Wednesday. Other applicants include established Legs 11 branches at the Arcadian and Broad Street, Medusa in Suffolk Street, The Rocket Club, Broad Street and Spearmint Rhino in Hagley Road. Club Diamond, hopes to open in Holloway Head.

Update: Licence Granted

23rd September 2011. See article from bbc.co.uk

The owner of Scarlets lapdancing club has been granted a licence, the 7th such club in Birmingham

Michelle Monaghan said she would be surprised if people in the second city were against the idea of the lapdancing clubs because legislation governing them was so strict.

She said Birmingham and the Black Country were blighted by empty public houses and that lapdancing clubs were more profitable than normal clubs:

We have found with lapdancing clubs, we can open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and take as much as we could on a Saturday [at a standard nightclub].

Two daily newspapers in Suffolk have banned adult services ads. Ipswich's Evening Star and its sister daily the East Anglian Times have ditched sex ads from their classified columns.

Star editor Nigel Pickover and the EADT's Terry Hunt admitted the move had cost a significant sum of money but said they believed it had been the right thing to do.

The move has been praised by local police bosses who this week wrote a letter of thanks to the two editors. Suffolk Constabulary's head of public protection, Det. Supt. Alan Caton said: Just a short note on behalf of Suffolk Constabulary and the Joint Agency Strategic Group to thank you and your colleagues at Archant Suffolk for removing the 'Adult Services' adverts from your columns.

The two papers are part of the Archant group from which a spokesman said: The decision by Archant Suffolk's two daily papers to stop carrying adult services ads is a local decision.

The owners of the Shadow Lounge already operating in Weston's Regent Street have applied for a sexual entertainment licence as required under new laws now in force.

But North Somerset councillor Mike Bell claims the application should be refused and the club shut down as it is in an inappropriate spot in the town centre. He said:

Regent Street is in the retail and tourist heart of Weston. Around the corner from the High Street and yards from the Grand Pier, thousands of families visit the area every day.

Lap dancing, however distasteful or otherwise people may personally find it, is legal, but that does not mean that lap dancing clubs should be allowed just anywhere.

It is simply not appropriate for it to be located in this area and I want to see the application refused and the club closed down.

Club manager Jesus Rodriguez Casas says there have been no complaints from the police or local authority. He says the club has been operating in the same spot for six years and conditions laid down by the new licence will not be any different to those the venue is operating under now. He said:

This is more about politics than anything else. The club won't even open until 10pm and families won't be about then. The club is next to a lot of pubs.

A proposal for a lap dancing bar in Ipswich has been withdrawn in the face of nutter opposition.

Businessman Shane Butcher was seeking planning permission to turn the former Fire & Ice nightspot on Tacket Street into a lap dancing club.

Ipswich Borough Council received  about 40 letters of opposition from moralists of the police, churches and neighbours.

Suffolk Police opposed the idea, claiming its strategy to protect vulnerable women would be compromised.  The Make A Change team was set up in the wake of the murders of five women who worked as prostitutes in 2006. 'Contradictory message'

Supt Martin Ransome claimed: The remit of the team developed to include off-street prostitution with a focus on tackling sexual exploitation.

Butcher's agent for the application, Roger Gilles, said: The client has waived to popular opinion.

Krystals Nightclub and Vanity Bar is due to open in New Road, Chatham, on Tuesday.

It wants permission to stay open until 4am and add an adult entertainment category to its licence.

But residents have said they do not want their lives blighted by the plan, which they ludicrously claim will bring prostitution back to the area and cause excessive noise.

Objections have also been made by Kent Police and Medway Council's environmental health officer Darren Hale.

A teacher who led double life as an adult entertainer named Johnny Anglais has been allowed to continue working in the classroom.

Benedict Garrett was given a slap on the wrist by the General Teaching council - but was told he is free to continue teaching children as long as he steers clear of his extra-curricular employment.

The disciplinary committee heard that Garrett, who was head of personal, social and health education, had been stripping in clubs and working as a naked butler in his spare time.

The chairman of the panel Derek Johns, today told him that the committee was:

content he would not repeat his behaviour if he carried on teaching. You have stated that you will continue to advocate the morality and acceptability of your involvement in the adult industry and argue that it should not be inappropriate for a teacher to work as a stripper or in pornographic films. However, the committee is content that you recognise the widely held public view that such work is not acceptable conduct for a teacher.

Garrett had admitted working in the adult industry but argued that it did not amount to unacceptable professional conduct since none of his behaviour was illegal.

This project aims to investigate community views regarding lap dance and lap dance clubs in their town and locality.

Focusing on Manchester and Macclesfield, the project will consult with residents, businesses, local government and other interested parties in order to explore experiences, beliefs, points of view and community wishes, in relation to the location, licensing, appearance of and numbers of lap dance clubs in their towns and neighbourhoods.

Covering the period 2009 to 2012, communities will be consulted through questionnaires and interviews via post and internet.

Take part at survey.kent.ac.uk

Norman Martin owner of the Rowan Tree in Mayfield, is planning to apply for a licence to host adult entertainment on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in what would be Midlothian's first strip bar.

Speaking about his plans, Martin told the Evening News:

Since the smoking ban, we need a reason for the people to come in. I've been to a couple of lap dancing bars on stag dos and, to be honest, they are very busy. I have got a quite a few female customers and I wouldn't want to alienate them, but apparently the ladies who do the dancing aren't put off by other woman being around. Also we would still have the bar for people who are not interested in that kind of thing.

The idea has already attracted the usual nutter 'outrage'. Angela Marshall, a nurse who lives around the corner, said:

Disgusting. It's just not appropriate for that area. There's a school nearby and there's a lot of elderly people round here. I'd definitely object to it and I know other people would as well. It's sending out the wrong message. When you see some of the things kids these days are wearing, short skirts and things like that. And you don't know who that sort of thing is going to bring in to the area.

Mayfield prude Mary Dempster said:

I'm not a prude... BUT ...I hope it doesn't go ahead. If that's the depths the Rowan Tree has to go to to titillate people, it's really sad. It might attract some teenagers or young people to get involved in this kind of thing.

Robert Hogg, chairman of Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council, said he did not believe lapdancing was right for the area. But added:

At the moment, everybody has got to look at their premises to see what the best way to keep them going. If it was well run and everything was above board it would be hard to object.

Back in 2008, The Sun entered a deal with the erotic game company notable for designing the popular Nookii game.

However The Sun pulled out of the deal when the game, Page 3 Idol , was produced. The newspaper claimed that the product, which offered players the chance to win a glamour model photo shoot at the newspaper, was bordering on the pornographic .

In March  2011, Double G Communications Ltd, which describes itself as Britain's number one adult leisure games company, went to court to seek redress from News Group Newspapers.

The court heard that The Sun, which originated the idea of a daily picture of a young semi-nude woman with a pun-heavy caption in 1970 and owns Page 3 as a trademark, had been initially enthusiastic about the project and signed an undertaking to promote the board game in the newspaper and on its websites.

But when the product was launched in February 2008, Double G began to market the game without being told by NGN that it had already decided to terminate the licensing deal and ask for all existing copies of Page 3 Idol to be pulped.

Double G won its breach of contract claim.  However the newspaper disputed the level of losses suffered by Double G and continued the case to determine damages for this breach. However, Double G could no longer sustain funding of the case due to the escalating legal fees, and were forced to liquidate the company.

The owners however are continuing trading as The Playful Games Company Limited.

A High Wycombe strip pub has been drawn into legal proceedings with the Performing Right Society (PRS) over incredibly high charges levied upon him by the music royalty collection agency.

Alastair Watts, general manager of the White Horse in High Wycombe, is contesting charges totalling more than £ 12,000 for the last 2 years.

Watts believes PRS has double-charged him for the striptease performances he regularly hosts at his venue and had his recalculation of £ 1,153.93 rejected by the agency.

The White Horse has had strippers performing for more than 25 years and in 2007 most of the first floor of the pub was converted to an evening lap-dancing bar called Bar 95.

As part of a campaign against PRS charges, Watts is planning to launch a website campaign against the organisation, saying: What I really want is for people to write in, so there is a public record of the costs that the PRS is remunerating. Then maybe public pressure will make them alter their charges or lead to some sort of intervention from the Government.

Camden Council is again consulting on its proposal to allow no new adult businesses in this London borough. This includes lap dancing clubs, sex shops, sex cinemas and burlesque shows if they get the slightest bit naughty.

The council summarises its stance in the consultation document:

The Council has considered the nature of its wards and the views expressed by consultees on its sex establishment licensing policy and has determined that the appropriate number of sex establishments of any kind in each of its wards is nil. Thus a presumption exists that any applications for a sex establishment licence in any of Camden's wards shall be refused save for in exceptional circumstances.

Pot of Dreams
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Sapphire Rooms, Lothian Road, Edinburgh
Through August 2011

An exhibition at The Sapphire Rooms will showcase two collections of photographs, laying bare the lives of the strippers behind the lingerie and the make-up.

But while the intimate pictures will expose every detail of their normal working lives, the girls themselves will be keeping their clothes on, while performing pole dances and talking to visitors about the industry

In the first ever Edinburgh Fringe show of its kind, lapdance bosses have invited anyone over 18 to the month-long programme of free events at the Lothian Road club, including the display of frank images depicting life behind the scenes in a strip club, as well as burlesque workshops and the chance to chat one-to-one with the girls who dance into the night.

They will also demonstrate some pole dances - although with their clothes kept on - while art installations including wire models will hang from the club's ceiling.

The exhibition, called Pot of Dreams, is aimed at giving the public a better understanding of the industry.

Ex-dancer and photographer, Holly Davidson, has created several artistic six-foot photographs to capture the curves, flow and movements of the strippers, while Jannica Honey spent two and a half months backstage with the dancers to capture grittier and humanising images of the girls as they went about their daily routines.

Miserable comedian Liz Ely claims that lap dancing bar is an unsuitable venue for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

16th July 2011. See article from scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com

One of Scotland's largest strip clubs has been unveiled as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's newest venue. Lap dancing club, Sapphire Rooms, will host live music, acrobatics, burlesque and art exhibitions throughout August.

But miserable comedian Liz Ely believes Festival organisers have made a serious error by granting official venue status to a lap dance club. The feminist performer said:

I guess the Fringe think they are being radical and pushing the boundaries by holding events in a strip club, but all they are doing is supporting the dominant culture which exploits the bodies of women via the wallets of men.

The event literature describes the venue as 'decadent', but I'm not sure what's decadent about watching performances in a place where a bunch of sad old businessmen and boozed-up sweaty stag parties pay to see boobs.

However, Dr Sarah Vernon, whose PhD examined the socio-political impact of stripping in Scotland, defended the club's right to be included in the world's largest arts festival. She said:

There is no reason why a venue that provides striptease-based entertainment should not be part of the Fringe.

The idea that a performance space automatically has no artistic value simply because it is a strip club is unfair, illogical and judgemental.

Oxford's only lap dancing club has found a new home in the city even if the church claims that it undermines God's gift of marriage.

The Lodge has been granted a sexual entertainment licence at The Coven, in Oxpens Road, by a committee of city councillors. The Coven currently operates as a nightclub.

But the Rev Vaughan Roberts, of St Ebbe's Church, said: he was disappointed and surprised by the decision: We continue to believe that this kind of club is not good anywhere in our city because it undermines God's good gift of marriage and degrades women, he said.

Jon Payne, the barrister representing the church, said the church was considering its next move that could include launching a challenge in the High Court.

Council bosses will decide this week whether to limit the number of lap-dancing clubs in Leicester.

It comes after the city council carried out a survey in which it asked 622 members of the public whether a limit should be imposed, with 85% saying yes.

Leicester city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby and his cabinet colleagues are expected to agree a limit of five clubs in the city. There are currently five adult entertainment venues in the city.

Each club will be required to get a £6,000 licence to operate. These will be granted to venues that meet strict restrictions to ensure not too much fun.

A nightclub in Aylesbury which is already finding it extremely difficult to make ends meet will now have to pay up to £2,000 more per year for its licence because it includes lap dancing shows.

Mirage in Buckingham Street now falls under a new licence category for sex establishments, the policy for which has now been agreed by Aylesbury Vale District Council.

It includes an annual fee of £2,200 to renew the licence if the application is contested by interested parties, such as parish councils or the nearby community, or £600 if the application is uncontested.

Mirage owner, Jack Michael, currently only pays £180 per year towards a premises licence.

A lap-dancing bar where the nudity was too much for Glasgow's moralist councilors has won an appeal against the removal of its drinks licence.

The Glasgow venue previously lost the licence after inspectors reported a series of breaches of the city's code of practice on dance entertainment, including performers removing bikini bottoms and having physical contact with customers.

However, judges in the Court of Session in Edinburgh have said the breaches had nothing to do with the sale of alcohol and could not be used as a reason to refuse a licence.

The Truffle Club in Drury Street was part of the Spearmint Rhino group at the time of the inspection and is currently operated as Platinum Lace. Simon Warr, chief executive officer, said: I am naturally very pleased, the decision to refuse the application was totally disproportionate.

A spokesman for Glasgow licensing board said: We will be considering the terms of the decision.

Lord Eassie, sitting with Lords Clarke and Wheatley, said five minor breaches had been listed:

• The code required a risk assessment for the personal safety of dancers and while this had been done, a member of staff during a visit by a licensing standards officer had not known where the document was kept;
• Flyers, in the form of small cards, had shown the upper torsos of two women, yet any advertising was not to feature exposed breasts or genitalia;
• Drinks promotions had been e-mailed to registered patrons, but immediately withdrawn after an officer had pointed out that they conflicted with the board's policy on happy hours and cheap alcohol;
• An officer had seen two dancers remove their bikini bottoms to knee level. The women were from Edinburgh, where they were accustomed to different practice;
• Several dancers made considerable contact with patrons whilst performing, but the only contact allowed was the hand-to-hand payment of money at the end of a performance.

Update: Angry

3rd December 2011. Based on article from minivannews.com

At a meeting of Glasgow's licensing board chairman Cllr Stephen Dornan, said he was angry laws around alcohol are powerless to do anything about lap-dancing clubs.

The council is again pursuing changes to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act.

A Scottish Government spokesman said the judgment's implications are being considered, to see what action may be required to ensure appropriate regulation of lap dancing bars.

A large amount of porn has been seized in a raid on a video shop in East Lancashire.

Lancashire County Council's Trading SubStandard officers found the stash of pornography behind a hidden door in a seemingly law-abiding video shop in Burnley.

Police acted after several complaints of alleged illegal activity in the shop.

The haul, which included counterfeit and unclassified explicit porn titles, as well as R18 titles, which can only be legally sold in a licensed sex shop, was found behind a hidden door which had been built into the video shelves. This doorway led to another locked door which was broken down after the manager refused to provide a key for the door.

Parish councils will be allowed to impose parking charges, take over leisure centres and even revoke strip club licences, as part of new powers to run local neighbourhoods.

The plans were announced by David Cameron and are contained in a White Paper that aims to open up nearly all public sector services to competition from the private and voluntary sector.

The Prime Minister said it was the first step on the road to a better, fairer country in which people enjoy more choice, less bureaucracy, improved services and equal access for rich and poor.

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