Lap Dancing in London

Nutters are "horrified" by a hotel's plan to open a striptease and lap dancing club in New Cross, London.

An application by the White Hart Hotel, New Cross Road, New Cross, to open a strip club on the premises has prompted more than 100 objections and three petitions from residents against the plan. The police have also put in a letter of objection.

Many residents say they fear the proposal, which would see the club stay open till 3am, will lead to an increase in crime in the area.

In a letter of objection Ayana Sakey, of Deptford Broadway, Deptford, said: That part of New Cross is already a frightening and unpleasant place to be after dark. How much worse is this going to be when there are inebriated, sexually-frustrated punters spilling out of a sleazy nightspot in the early hours of the morning?

TV researcher Bridget Gregory says the area is largely residential, with many families living there. The hotel is right in the heart of the community, with a chemist, doctor's surgery and schools nearby. A strip club doesn't promote a safe environment, so it's a terrible location for one.

However, a petition has been sent to the council supporting the plan.

White Hart owner Kenneth Linwood said: The business was really struggling before and this is the only way I can survive. There's been a lot of comments about a strip club bringing trouble to the area but it's complete rubbish. There will be no access to children and there will be an over 21 door policy with strict security.

Nutters in New Cross have won their crusade against a hotel's plan to open a striptease and lap-dancing club.

An application by the White Hart Hotel, in New Cross Road, New Cross, to open a strip club on the premises was refused by a Lewisham Council licensing committee.

More than 100 letters of objection and three petitions signed by 232 residents against the plan were received by the council, including a letter of objection from the police. However, a petition with 189 signatures was received by the council in support of the plan.

The White Hart owner Ken Linwood said that a lap-dancing club was his only hope of saving his struggling business. He intends to appeal the decision.

The police also expressed bollox concerns at the meeting over the impact the club would have on crime in the area. At the meeting Lewisham Police head of licensing PC Andy Laurie said: My concern is that the club will attract more people from outside the area and add to crime. It's not a risk we should take. [Surely the police should not be allowed to make political objections without justification. Since when does 'people outside the area' imply an increase in criminality?]

A hotel owner has won his appeal to open a striptease and lap dancing club in New Cross.

An application by the White Hart Hotel, in New Cross Road, to open a strip club on the premises was refused by Lewisham Council in August.

More than 100 nutter letters and three petitions signed by 232 residents against the plan were received by the council, including a letter of objection from the police.

White Hart owner Ken Linwood won his appeal against the decision at Bromley Magistrates' Court. Linwood argued the strip club is the only way his business can survive.

'Outraged' nutters have condemned a bid to stage late-night lap dancing at the Music Palace in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, London.

Crouch End Councillor and moral crusader David Winskill (Not so Liberal Democrat) said: The overwhelming response is hostile and local councillors will be offering any support we can to see off this totally inappropriate application. This is not a moral crusade...[BUT]... This is about a development that is totally inappropriate in a residential area where there is a school around the corner.

If Haringey Council approves a licence change, the club could also be open from 11am-2am Monday to Saturday with early closing at 11pm on Sunday.

Louisa Brittain, chairwoman of governors at nearvy Rokesly Infants School, said: We are very concerned at the prospect of a lap dancing club so close to our schools, especially as many of our children walk past this building daily.

Sue Hessel, chairwoman of Crouch End's Haslemere Road Resident Nutters' Association, said: We would be worried about the way that women would be exploited especially. It is men running these places and often girls that are desperately in need of quick cash.

Update: Meeting the Nutters

21st February 2009. See article from hornseyjournal.co.uk

Music Palace confirmed it hopes to meet interested parties so views can be aired on its bid to become an adult entertainment venue offering dances with near-naked women.

Piers Warne, of Poppleston Allen Solicitors on behalf of Music Palace, said: The applicants are considering the representations received to the application and will be seeking to hold a meeting for all parties who are interested before the application is dealt with by the licensing committee.

The meeting is likely to take place within the next three weeks.

Update: No Police Objection

6th March 2009. See article from hornseyjournal.co.uk

Police will not oppose plans to open a late-night lap dancing club.

Ward councillor Ron Aitken, Liberal Democrat spokesman for crime, policing and community, said: Obviously residents will be disappointed that the police won't lodge an objection, but the problem is the law and the Government did not provide for this type of application in the licensing law 2003.

But police licensing officer Geoff Parker confirmed a raft of conditions which address issues such as crime and disorder and public safety would become part of any licence agreed by Haringey Council.

'Angry nutters told the owners of Music Palace in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, they would not rest until plans to transform it into Haringey's only lap dancing venue were forgotten.

Alison Lillystone said: How can I let my 16-year-old daughter out on the streets with men who are aroused?

She added: If you had a brothel, at least these men would be satisfied when they left.

More than 70 nutters voiced their opposition at a public meeting organised by Music Palace's owners. They said 1,000 pupils from the nearby Hornsey School for Girls walked around the area at lunchtime. And they complained that people had urinated in the street, been involved in sexual activity in gardens and caused noise disturbance when the venue had opened late in the past.

But owner Serdal Ziya said after the meeting: At the end of the day we are trying to make a living here. The community doesn't help us at the moment by coming here and trying to build our business up, so this is the only thing that we could think would reduce the noise level - and we don't see it as women being exploited. We're not going to open during the day when children are in the area.

The owner's solicitor, Piers Warne, said the club would be run discreetly and would create employment and less noise nuisance and disorder.

The council had received 97 letters about the plans and a licensing committee hearing in the near future will take a final decision on the application.

'A newly-formed Lap Off! group of more than 80 campaigners gathered with placards - and some with their children - outside Music Palace in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End on Tuesday.

Posters with slogans like No crotch den in Crouch End! will soon cover Crouch End in a bid to win over more opposition to the venue's plans.

A campaign spokeswoman said: We're getting a bit fed up with our opponents trying to write us off as middle-class, whingeing nimbys with no sense of fun.

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, met protesters on Saturday to offer her backing: It is a free country and people should be allowed to do whatever they like, so long as it doesn't harm others. ...BUT... this particular case - because of where it is in a busy high street, with teenagers and mothers and vulnerable people nearby - is not a suitable location.

Haringey Council has postponed the licensing meeting to decide on the plans at the applicant's request. It will now be held at the Civic Centre in Wood Green at 7pm on Thursday, May 14, rather than Tuesday, March 24.

Update: Line between prudery and repression begins to blur

4th April 2009. See article from hornseyjournal.co.uk

Councillors Nilgun Canver (centre) and Councillor Dilek Dogus (right), join Karen Jennings, Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hornsey and Wood Green, protesting outside Music Palace in Crouch End.

A heated debate erupted at a full Haringey council meeting. Councillor Dilek Dogus (Labour) said: These clubs are a danger to women who live and work around them and additional research has even linked them to sex trafficking.

Drugs arrive, particularly cocaine, and these are shared with the dancers. Then there are the extras where the line between prostitution and dancing begins to blur."

She cited central London's Tottenham Court Road as an example, where rape cases leaped by 50 per cent after a new club was opened, adding that rape was three times more likely to happen in areas surrounding these venues.

A venue that sparked nutter 'outrage' by offering pole dancing six years ago is now bidding to launch lap dancing in Wood Green.

The plan could see lap dancing at the former Charlie Browns nightclub in High Road, Wood Green. The venue now called Grand Palace and Bar N22.

Nutter organisations predictably 'fear' the proposal could bring trouble to the area.

Raj Doshi, chairman of I Can Care - a drop-in centre for elderly residents based in nearby Woodside House, said: It may bring in a lot of ugliness. To me a dance is a dance, but if it brings in other stuff - drugs, prostitution, the shadowy characters, for all these reasons I would prefer, if I had a tick box, not to have it.

Shilpa Desai, vice-chairwoman of I Can Care aid: I don't know how that's going to work because as it is they're scared to go out at certain times. I think this part of Haringey, there are lots of families with young kids, there is a council estate which has got a lot of young people and I don't think this is going to help them.

Woodside ward councillor George Meehan (Labour) said: We would prefer that it isn't successful. The last time people weren't very happy, so I can't see that they'll suddenly become happy. Wood Green shouldn't be any different to Crouch End or Tottenham, therefore we wouldn't expect anyone to be any more welcoming. I assume they will make their views known quite forcefully.

Residents can comment on the Grand Palace/Bar N22 application until Tuesday, April 14, by contacting Haringey Council licensing team on 020 8489 8232, or licensing@haringey.gov.uk.

Nutters who fought a long-running battle against plans for a lapdancing club are celebrating after the owners withdrew a legal challenge.

Residents near The Crescent bar in West Kensington were dismayed when owner, Passion Nights, applied to turn part of the venue into a strip club, ludicrously fearing kerb crawlers and prostitutes would be drawn to the area.

An appeal was launched at West London Magistrates' Court after councillors threw out the plans in November - but was finally withdrawn this week in the face of wide spread opposition.

Nutter leader Joe Carlebach said: Our concern was that a lap dancing club would bring more crime, especially with sex workers and kerb crawlers. It's also right next door to a library where my children go, and I don't want to have to explain to my four-year-old daughter what a lap dancing club is and why people are hanging around..

Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush MP Andy Slaughter, who has been fighting alongside the residents, said: I am delighted by this outcome. I have put a lot of effort into the campaign - asking questions to the Home Secretary, petitioning locally, holding a public meeting and giving evidence at the licensing panel.

But the main credit must go to the thousands of individual protesters and the organising committee of residents. This is a textbook case of how to fight and beat commercial interests intent on destroying a local neighbourhood for private gain.

'Plans to open a lap dancing club in the heart of Crouch End have been put on ice.

The bid by the managers of Music Palace in Tottenham Lane was postponed at the request of their solicitor.

A showdown between the Music Palace and residents' campaign group Lap Off! was looming on May 14.

Late on Wednesday the solicitor for Serdal Ziya asked Haringey's licensing department to postpone the hearing. No date has been set for it to be relisted - but, crucially, it has not been officially withdrawn.

The news is widely seen as a victory for the nutters of Lap Off! objectors, whose calls to arms were backed by councillors on both sides of the political divide.

A bid to host striptease and naked lap dancing in Wood Green was vetoed by Haringey Council supposedly because of the proposed club's proximity to schools.

The owner of Bar N22 in the High Road was told he could not offer adult entertainment, after just two objectors voiced fears it would harm the community.

Susan Garrad, a mum and playgroup volunteer of Noel Park, listed schools, churches and community groups near to the venue and said: I contend people will know what's going on and parents will then have to explain something they might not want to deal with until a child is older, or will have to lie to their children.

The licensing committee made the dubious ruling under relaxed licensing laws at Haringey Council's Civic Centre - opposite Bar N22, formerly known as Charlie Browns.

Varinder Kaur, service manager at a sheltered housing scheme, next door to Bar N22, said the plan would negatively impact on the home's 22 elderly residents. She ludicrously claimed: They're old, they're vulnerable, they will be isolated and living inside and there is a danger their grandchildren and children will not be visiting them. That is going to have an effect on their well being and health and safety, so we are concerned.

In a demo on 22 May over 100 people joined the Stop the Strip campaign's loud and noisy protest against a lap dancing club in New Cross, south London.

A local publican whose pub had been going downhill for some time had decided to turn it into the White Hart "Gentlemen's Club". Initially the local council (Lewisham) rejected the licensing application but the publican appealed to the courts and won.

Nutter Socialist Party councillors Ian Page and Chris Flood and Socialist Party members organised the Stop the Strip campaign to end lap dancing at the club.

Local people feel threatened or intimidated by this club. One protester on the demo, June, told us: I can't walk past there at night now. When they (the men visiting the bar) come outside they ogle you, saying and shouting things to you - it doesn't matter what age you are as well.

Ian Page and Chris Flood will be presenting a resolution to the council calling for a Compulsory Purchase Order on the White Hart, ensuring that it is put to better use for the community.

Update: Another Protest

2nd June 2009. See article from southlondon-today.co.uk

Around 100 people – including residents, councillors, business owners and Goldsmiths College students – waved placards outside the club, in New Cross Road, on Friday.

Campaigner Steve Carrick-Davies, 45, said: We are not arguing that the club is illegal or that the owner has done anything wrong. We are just saying we don’t want this kind of place in this area.

Club owner Ken Linwood has claimed the criticism is unfair and that the club has brought no trouble to the area: The club hasn’t caused any trouble at all since opening.

The first lap-dancing club may yet open in  Crouch End - as a new bid to host adult entertainment is launched.

Owners of Music Palace, in Tottenham Lane, have lodged another planning application with Haringey Council to allow the bar to be used as a Gentleman's Club with table dancing.

Campaigners from opposition group Lap Off! have pledged to fight on to quash the plans.

Lindsay Wright, Lap Off! nutter, said: We have a lot of support behind us. The council seems to have woken up to the idea that this is not a good idea for Haringey - there seems to be a lot of political and public support behind us and we're very confident.

A previous licensing application to Haringey Council was withdrawn by Music Palace's owners on April 22 after residents uncovered a 30-year-old condition on the club's lease banning use for any illegal or immoral purpose.

The condition, known as a restrictive covenant, is legally binding but the landlord may have chosen to overlook it. A second restriction banning booze sales at the former Salvation Army citadel hall has already been broken for several years.

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said: I share local residents' concern about having a lap dancing club in the heart of Crouch End. Residents need to be given enough time and opportunity to raise their concerns with this application, and I will be with them every step of the way to make sure this happens.

Crouch End Councillor, David Winskill, said: It's immensely disappointing for residents in the 'Lap Off!' campaign that their summer will be dominated by another fight to stop this application. This club is simply not wanted in Crouch End and we'll make every effort to ensure that it doesn't get the appropriate permission.

A landlord who transformed his pub into a strip club has backed down after pressure from nutters.

Ken Linwood, landlord of the White Hart Pub, in New Cross Road, New Cross, changed the place into a “gentleman's club”, in February, saying it was necessary to stop his pub going bust.

But he has turned the venue back into a regular pub after campaign group, Stop The Strip, organised protests outside the club.

He said: Last Sunday, I reopened the place as a normal pub where people can enjoy a drink and listen to live bands. I didn't have to do this – I am legally entitled to have opened the strip club. But I have recognised the opinions of the campaigners and am now challenging them to come down and have a drink here. For the next month I am staying as a pub, but if things don't go well then I will have to review my options.

Campaigner Steve Carrick-Davies said: We are delighted that the owner has recognised the importance of returning the place to normal. We have never said what he was doing was illegal, but we don't think it's appropriate for the area. Now it's a pub I will be happy to go down there for a pint and have a chat with the owner.”

Meanwhile, Stop The Strip have submitted proposals through the Sustainable Communities Act to require applicants for lap dancing licences to show it would benefit the community. The act allows people to suggest law changes making their communities more economically, socially and environmentally friendly.

The nutter campaign to stop Haringey's first lap dancing club opening in Crouch End is back on following a date being set for the council to consider the plans.

Residents' group Lap Off! has vowed to fight the plan for Music Palace in Tottenham Lane.

A Haringey Council licensing committee will decide whether to grant an adult entertainment licence at 7.30pm on Thursday, September 10, at Haringey Civic Centre.

If Haringey Council approves a licence change, the club in the former Salvation Army citadel hall could be open from 11am-2am Monday to Saturday with early closing at 11pm on Sunday.

But nutters fear a double-pronged attack as a planning bid to become a gentleman's club has also been lodged by Music Palace's owners. The campaign has so far attracted 201 letters demanding the council throw out the planning bid and a date for the hearing is yet to be set.

Green Party candidates Pete McAskie, Anna Bragga and Sarah Cope backed the Lap Off! campaigners' battle to stop the Music Palace in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End,  from getting its gentleman's club licence. 

The Green Party trio, who will all stand for election in the nearby Stroud Green ward next year, have added their voices to opposition.

Ms Bragga said: We will do everything we can to support the Lap Off! campaign. It would create a no-go area for residents and alter the character of Crouch End.

A petition with 2,100 signatures against the proposal was handed in to Haringey Council last week ahead of the licensing committee meeting at 7.30pm at the Civic Centre, Wood Green High Road, on September 10.

Update: Adjourned

14th September 2009. See article from hornseyjournal.co.uk

Hundreds of protesters packed Wood Green Civic Centre to hear a licensing application by the Music Palace in Tottenham Lane last night (Thursday) - but the hearing was adjourned after two hours because of lack of time.

A resumption date is yet to be set but will have to fit the diaries of more than 19 interested parties.

Update: Rescheduled

25th September 2009. Based on article from muswellhilljournal24.co.uk

The fate of a controversial lap dancing club application WILL be decided on Friday 25th September, says Haringey Council's planning panel.

Nutters will descend once again on the Wood Green Civic Centre from 7.30pm to protest against the club's plans to hold near naked dances.

Update: Proposals Refused

26th September 2009. Based on article from haringeyindependent.co.uk

The proposal for lap dancing and strip shows at a Crouch End club has been rejected by Haringey Council.

Music Palace failed in its bid for permission to turn the Tottenham Lane club into a lap dancing venue, offering £10 strip shows to businessmen.

The licensing committee this evening turned down the bid, with the bollox justification that it was not satisfied club bosses had addressed concerns over having a strip club in a residential area.

The news kept the nutter protesters happy though.

Update: No Appeal

22nd October 2009. See article from hornseyjournal.co.uk

The licence applicant, Serdal Ziya, had until Friday to indicate intent to appeal against Haringey Council, which threw out her bid to run lap dancing at the club until 2am Mondays to Saturdays.

But the council confirmed it had not heard from Miss Ziya before the deadline.

Lap dancers will not be disrobing at a pub in West Drayton, much to the delight of the area's MP.

The De Burgh Arms had asked for permission to hold lap dancing and striptease evenings in a separate building within their premises, a move hotly opposed by Uxbridge MP John Randall (Con). He said: I am very pleased with the result. I just do not think it is the right location for that sort of establishment. I'm delighted.

At a licensing meeting at Hillingdon Civic Centre last Tuesday, the committee ruled against permitting the new venture at the pub in Station Road.

The De Burgh Arms is next to the town's busy station, and many residents supposedly feared the lap dancing pub would be the first thing people coming to West Drayton would see.

Councillors said the possibility of the venue adding to anti-social behaviour and crime in the area was another reason to turn it down.

Comment: Nimby bandwagon

9th February 2010. Thanks to Alan

Interesting to see my former local get a mention! I used to drink in the De Burgh Arms, which used to be the best pub in West Drayton by a mile. It became less pleasant a few years ago, and the lap dance proposal might be an attempt to revive it. Sorry to see the normally sensible John Randall jump on the nimby bandwagon.

Strp pubs are by no means unknown in the area: there are a couple in Hayes, and another boozer just on the other side of the railway used to run regular strip nights a few years back

A lap-dancing club has been barred from opening off Holborn Circus because there are already too many in the area.

Plans to open a new 300-capacity gentleman's club called Blue Diamond with a 4.30am late licence have been thrown out.

Almost 100 irate nutters and businesses had objected to the plans claiming it would debase the reputation of Hatton Garden.

Numerous other lap-dancing and strip joints operate within a 500-metre radius - including neighbouring club Secrets as well as The Griffin, in Clerkenwell Road, and the Chatterbox and Venus nightspots in Farringdon Road.

Blue Diamond, off Holborn Circus, is the latest venture from For Your Eyes Only (FYEO), which opened Europe's biggest lap dancing venue in City Road in 2008.

It would have featured 30 private booths with customers paying £20 a time to have a fully naked female dancer gyrate for their pleasure for three minutes.

FYEO insists it operates a strict code of conduct that bans full body contact between customers and dancers and ensures private booths being are not fully curtained-off.

But Camden Council threw out the plans citing the cumulative effect of yet strip club opening and its impact on the quality of life of residents with nearby schools and churches.

Rrepressive new rules on sex shops and lapdancing clubs will force the operators to fork out more than £16,000 per year if they want to continue trading in the borough.

Changes to licensing rules agreed last week also give Hammersmith and Fulham Council greater power to close down venues which it feels are operating in inappropriate sites.

Sex establishments near residential areas, schools, nurseries, youth clubs, places of worship, leisure centres and community buildings could be refused a licence when new rules are adopted in April.

There are currently two venues in the borough which are classed as sex establishments – lapdancing club Secrets in Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, and sex shop Simply Pleasure in Hammersmith Road, Olympia. Both will be allowed to continue running for one year, but must apply for a new licence within six months and will have to pay an annual fee of £16,688.

A council report said local residents will now have more opportunity to raise objections to sex establishments annually when the operators are forced to renew their licence.

Greg Smith, the council's resident services leader, said: [48] Residents have told us they do not want sex establishments opening in inappropriate places, such as in residential areas or near schools.

A public consultation was held between June and August, in which just 59 people took part. Of those, 48 felt it would be inappropriate to issue a licence near residential areas, schools or other places regularly used by children, and 39 said they should not be issued near a place of worship.

The presence of sex venues in the borough drew a mixed response from residents writing to the council. One woman of Carthew Road, Hammersmith, said: Since Secrets opened I have noticed fewer incidents of fights and scuffles in the street, vomit and blood on the pavement and noise in the later hours. The pubs which were on the site previously were rough pubs, with no doormen and much more hassling of women who pass by.

But another resident said: The licensing fee should be significantly higher than proposed, at least 40% of gross annual profits, adding: If ordinary people don't stand up for keeping their borough free from such business, then the atmosphere of our neighbourhoods will be determined not by decent families and businesses but by an ever-growing sleaze factor.

Tim Hemming, director of the Simply Pleasure chain, called the fee in Hammersmith and Fulham unacceptable and outrageous, with only the West End branch of the sex shop being charged more by its local council, Westminster. He said: What these councils are doing is exploiting us. They issue a renewable licence, visit our premises possibly once a year, have a look at it and charge us £16,000.

Two pub landlords have been fined for breaching licence restrictions by allowing lap dancers to perform in their pub, following an investigation by Hillingdon Council.

Mukhtiar Singh Sandhu, the designated premises supervisor, and Richard Whallen, manager at the De Burgh Arms, in Station Approach, Hayes, pleaded guilty to allowing a licensable activity to be carried on without authorisation at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court.

They were each fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £352 court costs.

Whallen's licence was also suspended for two months, although the pub will still be able to trade without lapdancing performances under Sandhu's personal licence.

Punch Taverns, the pub's licence holder, had applied to the council to amend the terms of licence to permit lapdancing in the De Burgh Arms but this was refused in January. A temporary events notice was granted to allow a dozen performances to take place over the course of 12 months but the pub landlords allowed the lapdancing to continue once the quota had been reached.

Councillor Jonathan Bianco said: The council will not stand by and allow premises to so blatantly disregard the restrictions in place. We are currently encouraging residents to have their say on how the council should deal with new applications for sex entertainment premises. This is an opportunity for people to share their views and help shape the way the council works, so I would encourage our residents to take part in the consultation.

The consultation closes on 7th January 2011. View the consultation document at www.hillingdon.gov.uk.

Richmond police said they found traces of the class A drug in the toilets and saw one dancer dash into a cubicle and flush something away when officers raided the Piano Lounge, in King Street Parade, Twickenham.

Undercover detectives also claimed they saw physical contact between dancers and customers when they visited on September 17 this year.

Nutters have supposedly 'bombarded' Richmond Council with complaints and police will apply to the authority to revoke the club's licence.

The Piano Lounge's licence will be reviewed at a Richmond Council licensing committee meeting on Monday.

Update: Delayed Hearing

13th December 2010. Based on article from richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

Solicitor John Andrews, representing the Piano Lounge in King Street Parade, Twickenham, asked Richmond Council's licensing committee, which was due to discuss its future on Monday, to delay the hearing until January 20 next year.

Club owner Walter Angliss said the drug claims were absolute nonsense.

Update: Continuing

27th January 2011. See article from yourlocalguardian.co.uk

Piano Lounge has been saved from closure.

Owner Walter Angliss was hauled in front of Richmond Council's licensing sub-committee after Richmond Police officers claimed they found traces of the class A drug.

Dancers at the club were also alleged to have been spotted having physical contact with punters when undercover detectives visited the club in September.

Despite the usual objections from local nutters, who claimed the club was not suited to a residential area, councillors decided to allow Angliss to continue running the business - but slapped him with a three-month suspension and imposed additional licensing conditions.

Update: Further threat

13th March 2011. See article from strip-magazine.com

It looks like the Piano Lounge in Twickenham is under further threat as Richmond council has decided on a nil policy for the borough.

Update: Fined

24th March 2011. See article from richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

Walter Angliss appeared at Richmond Magistrates' Court after undercover police officers visited his club in September and saw a number of breaches. Dancers were found to be in physical contact with customers and each other and did not remain standing during their performances, as required. Angliss also admitted allowing Thai massages to take place without council permission.

He was today ordered to pay £5,765 by magistrates.

In January Richmond Council's licensing sub-committee suspended the club's licence for three months. Angliss has appealed the suspension and this will be heard on March 30.

The City of London Corporation is proposing to ban all venues from staging lap dancing from September, claiming that it has a damaging impact on women.

Charlie's Bar near Tower Hill, the only remaining club in the City to offer lap dancing, is expected to be affected.

Under new legislation, such venues can be forced by councils to apply for a licence to continue operating. Charlie's Bar, which is thought to offer lap dancing for two hours once a week, would almost certainly be refused a licence if the Corporation's ban is confirmed by its policy resource committee.

Edward Lord, chairman of the licensing committee which recommended the ban, said there was a widely held view that this kind of normally male-only social activity serves to exclude women who work in financial services firms, or worse still makes them feel harassed and under-valued.

City workers said those who visited such venues would simply go to neighbouring areas, such as Westminster, where there is no ban.

Alex Smith from Southend, said: The new rules are a good thing but a lot of men won't think so: My niece is a dancer, she is treated well and they do get choices of what they do, but I don't agree with it.

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.

A public meeting was hosted in Tower Hamlets on 11th October by CAPE, the Campaign Against People Exploitation. It was billed as a balanced debate about whether Tower Hamlets council should have a policy of nil sex establishments in the Borough. It was nothing of the sort.

The arguments in favour of a total ban ranged from lap dancing does not enhance the power of women as stated by Bea Campbell journalist and 1970s Stalinist, to it's disgusting! from Ruhan Ali of TELCO (The East London Communities Organisation).

However much the supposedly intellectual speakers attempted to use the language of empowerment and emancipation of women, it all boiled down to this: lap dancing clubs cause an increase in rape statistics, drug taking, alcoholism, debt, prostitution, the breakdown of the family, the sexual exploitation of children, the loosening of the moral fibre of our menfolk and the loss of dignity of our women. All of which rather begs the question; would all these ills disappear if lap dance clubs were closed down?

What was very clear was that most of the speakers in the room were actually against sex, and in particular, sex carried out by women. I had mistakenly wandered into an 1830 meeting of the British Temperance Society.

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