UK Sex Sells News

Plans for a new strip club in Newcastle have been submitted. For Your Eyes Only Ltd has applied for sexual entertainment and premises licences for what is currently The Den nightclub, in the basement of Baron House, opposite Central Station.

Bosses hope the Purple Door club could be open by April and create 100 jobs and would contribute to the nighttime economy.

However religious and PC moralists have inevitable opposed the idea. Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner and long standing anti-man politician, Vera Baird whinged:

I hope those who make the decision on this application reflect on the image and reputation of such places and how they can have a detrimental effect on the great work that has taken place over the last few years to make Newcastle a family friendly city.

Plans for the new club show its main area would include two stages - one of which would be almost 50ft long - 15 private booths, six VIP two-seat booths, 15 floor tables with seating for 64 customers, and 18 booth tables with seats.

Rev Dr Nicholas Buxton, a moralist and prudish priest at St John the Baptist church in Newcastle city centre said he would be objecting to the application - but not on the grounds of morality. Yeah yeah.... He spouted:

My objection will be on the basis that its somewhere that you first see on arrival into Newcastle. We're having a whole new station area, with a new hotel and a lot of positive developments that improve the city environment with a view to making a more positive first impression for people coming up here.

And you have to ask the question - is a strip club the sort of image that we want for city visitors?

I'm not suggesting a blanket ban on this industry, and this isn't a matter of being morally prudish ,... [BUT] ... it's about the perceptions and in this location I believe it would create a bad impression.

Theatre productions that contain nudity will be exempt new repressive licensing laws covering sexual entertainment, the Scottish 'Justice' Secretary has said.

Michael Matheson moved to reassure MSPs that the proposed new licensing regime will not impact on artistic freedom of expression on the stage enjoyed by the cultural elite.

Holyrood's Local Government and Prudery Regeneration Committee has heard that measures in the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill could have an inadvertent impact on risque shows. The Bill would allow local authorities to ban sexual entertainment venues in an area.

Jon Morgan, director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre, told the committee last month that this could affect performances at the Edinburgh Festival which contain nudity or explore issues such as pornography. His concerns were raised by independent MSP John Wilson, who asked Mr Matheson to give theatres an assurance that they would be exempt from the legislation.

We've heard in evidence as a committee from theatre group representatives who were concerned that they may be impacted upon in terms of their artistic expression by some vexatious complaints or other individuals using the legislation as proposed to shut down certain theatre productions.

Matheson said:

I think it's a fair point to be raised and a reasonable concern for some establishments to actually have. That is why we're going to take forward some guidance in order to give some specific direction around this area about the types of premises and circumstances that would be exempt in these circumstances, so that could be for example a theatre production that does involve some nudity in it for a particular performance or series of performances that they are operating.

An unlicensed sex cinema in New Cross, billed as the last of its kind in London, has now applied to become a fully licensed club.

Club 487 was reportedly set up by the proprietors of porn cinema Mr B's in Finsbury, which closed down in July last year by the council for being too sexy.

The new club still has the facade of an old print shop on the outside, but past the double doors is a small black ticket office that appears freshly painted. Customers pay £15 to sample the cinema's explicit movies on multiple screens in a variety of different rooms.

The club manager told Eastlondonlines:

The council came down a few weeks ago and told us that we need a license. We're now applying for that.

The alleged sexual activities inside the club were snitched up by a News Shopper undercover report that gave a graphic account of men pleasuring themselves and customers having sex in front of the screen.

After a police raid at the New Cross Road cinema on February 19 it reopened on February 24 with a license application posted on the front door.

An MP and police moralists have whinged at plans for a new table dancing venue in Middlesborough.

Proposals to turn Slam on Exchange Square near Middlesbrough Railway Station into a lap dancing club have been lodged with Middlesborough Council.

Cleveland Police have objected to the plans citing several assaults at the previous venue and bizarrely claiming that the wrong clientele would be attracted to the venue.

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald spouted:

To class this as entertainment is ridiculous. I would wish the proprietors for something better to do with their premises. It will not be welcome by an enormous number of people - and I include myself in that. It's not what Middlesbrough needs.

Wild West Leisure Ltd has submitted the application to Middlesbrough Council to vary the premises licence which proposes the supply of alcohol from 11am to 4am daily and provision of regulated entertainment from 11am to 4am daily.  Alterations also include a new entrance, a new wall to create two rooms, removal of fixed seating and provision of booth seating to create a lap-dancing area.

The application does not include an application for a sexual entertainment venue licence. No doubt that would follow later.

Cleveland Police have objected to the application on the grounds of the prevention of crime and disorder and public safety. A police statement moralised:

Although the venue has seen an improvement it is the opinion of Cleveland Police that by the venue changing its theme and moving into adult entertainment that the wrong clientele will be attracted to the venue and issues will arise once again.

A cinema where customers were allegedly enjoying sex at screenings of hard-core porn movies has been raided by miserablist police. Billed online as London's last remaining porn cinema, the venue - an old printing shop - was allegedly charging viewers £15 to watch the explicit movies. The auditorium comprised three four-seater rows facing a big screen showing hardcore porn.

An undercover local newspaper reporter recently snitched on customers romping in the aisles including a woman clad in red lingerie who was performing sex acts on male viewers. Other men were seen performing sex acts on themselves as they watched the X-rated footage on a big screen.

Policemen and Lewisham Council morality officials raided the venue in New Cross, south London. They found 10 people inside and quizzed the venue's manager, said to be a porn connoisseur called Roger .

Sergeant Mark Alger said that the customers - all middle-aged males - were ejected. Police Sergeant Matt McGrath from the licensing team threatened: Lewisham Police will continue working with the council to identify premises where unauthorised licensable actives are taking place.

Not widely reported it appears, but an application for a new Table dancing club in Acton was rejected last week by Ealing Council on supposed grounds of 'locality'.

Ealing's policy for sex establishments only identifies Acton Town Centre as suitable for a club, and the residential districts as unsuitable.

Refusing a licence on grounds of being in an industrial area rather smacks of a morality decision, with only a nearby leisure centre as a straw to cling to.

Churches and other religious organisations have written to the Scottish first minister calling for the criminalisation of those who pay for sex.

The letter was written by Professor Hazel Watson, convener of the Scottish Churches' anti-human trafficking group, and signed by senior figures from a variety of other faith groups, including Muslims and Sikhs She claims:

Sex trafficking does not just exist because its victims are vulnerable - it exists because there is a demand for commercial sex that traffickers can exploit and profit from

Watson praised the Scottish government for introducing the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill. But she said:

We believe that there is an important element missing from the Bill and would urge you to consider supporting an amendment.

It would be good to see Scotland incorporating the Nordic model, with a funding package supporting women to leave prostitution, into its anti-trafficking legislation.

Sex trafficking does not just exist because its victims are vulnerable - it exists because there is a demand for commercial sex that traffickers can exploit and profit from.

The Nordic model effectively curbs demand and consequently reduces the trafficking for sexual exploitation into the countries that adopt it.

The Scottish government said in a statement:

Clearly this is a complex issue which requires careful consideration to ensure that any additional measures which may be required are necessary, practicable and sustainable.

Any further proposed changes to the law in this area would need to be considered carefully to ensure they are practical in terms of enforcement and whether there is robust evidence to suggest that such proposals would reduce incidents of prostitution or trafficking.

Scotland's new Licensing (Scotland) Bill is currently being discussed by the Scottish Parliament. A committee invited Professor Phil Hubbard, who has been following such issues, to speak about the experiences in England where similar control laws have been in place for some time.

He spoke of the expenses incurred by councils when their morality based decisions to ban table dancing clubs are formally challenged in the courts.

Hubbard noted that a one-size-fits-all policy for all Scottish councils would prevent the farcical situation in England and Wales where one council's decision to refuse a strip club licence can be successfully challenged - at great expense to the council - because a neighbouring council is more liberal.

National guidelines should be set on licensing fees - which range from £300 to £26,000 down south - and the amount of nudity permitted on show, he told Holyrood's Local Government Committee.

National guidelines were backed by the women's anti lap dancing campaign group,  Zero Tolerance.

But the strip clubs' trade association warned against central government imposing a draconian regime on councils, arguing that the ban on religious comedy Life Of Brian in Glasgow or the ban on cult French porn movie Emmanuelle in some rural cinemas demonstrates the diverse moral sensibilities in Scotland's communities which should be respected.

Hubbard said:

I think the introduction of the Police And Crime Act 2009 in the UK was by and large farcical in terms of the way it was allowed to proceed.

What we have in England and Wales is a situation that I would like to see avoided in Scotland, where we have a licensing regime for these establishments in one local authority but not in a neighbouring one.

Fees for these establishments range from £300 to £26,000.

We have a situation where some local authorities will ban nudity and others will not.

The whole situation has led to a whole range of appeal cases and litigation in which legal unreasonableness and inconsistency have been raised as valid concerns, and some of these appeals have been upheld.

It has created a great deal of anxiety, expenditure and time for local authorities who have been left to evolve policies of their own.

He didn't appear to mention much about the suffocating uncertainty and the effects of arbitrary moral censorship on businesses trying to make a living.

Save Soho is a coalition of performers, residents and politicians who have now come together out of concern after the closure and repossession of world renown club Madame Jojo's.

Save Soho's aim is to protect and nurture iconic music and performing arts venues in Soho that are disappearing at a terrifying rate. These closures are an attack on Soho's vibrant creative history and enduring character. With the support of the mayor of London, Save Soho is reaching out to to the landowners, so that we can offer them the rich experience of all our supporters in the entertainment industry to advise on future plans. Together, we can safeguard the future of the performing arts in Soho.

Stephen Fry, Chairman of Save Soho said:

Save Soho is not about shrieking at landowners or trying to shame them or anything of that nature. Save Soho is really hoping to be given a small consultational part in their plans.

Tim Arnold, Founder of Save Soho said:

Soho has always depended on building around and adding to what has gone before, not by demolishing it.