Lap Dancing in Recession

A Southampton strip club has called time on topless dancing in a bid to beat the recession.

Aqua Lounge in Above Bar, formerly known as Poletrixx, is to lose its lap dancers and focus more on events and live entertainment.

Owner Victoria Andrews said the move has been planned for a while with the recession and proposed new laws which could result in people in the community having a say where lap dancing venues are allowed to operate.

We have been here for around ten years now and I think that has almost been a miracle, she said: With new legislation being proposed it seemed like the right time for a change. I only want to do this if I can control it and not be told what we can and can’t do.

Victoria also said that takings had dropped in the independent city centre venue through the recession: We have still been getting the same number of people in but they just haven’t been spending as much money and it has been noticeable. And it was the closure of The Grapes, such an iconic pub for Southampton, that was a bit of a wake-up call.

Update: Too Risky

25th April 2009 See article from eastbourneherald.co.uk

A lap dancing club in Eastbourne has closed, with its owner blaming the recession for its demise.

Risky's, which was in the basement of American-themed bar Minnesota Jax in Seaside Road, closed its doors on March 14.

Bar owner Darren Bush said the club had been going for two years but had been hit by the economic downturn.

A property company has been appointed to sell the North East nightspots belonging to Absolute Leisure, which went into receivership last week, putting more than 50 jobs at risk.

It will oversee the sale of Newcastle-based Absolute’s two Purple Door lap dancing clubs in Kingston upon Hull and Doncaster. Joint administrator Gerald Krasner from Begbies Traynor, said: The directors closed the [Purple Door] clubs in Kingston upon Hull on Thursday night, however the Doncaster club is continuing to trade. We are confident of finding buyers for the sites.

The Purple Door clubs were run by Lookchart Ltd, which is part of the Absolute Leisure group.

A lap dancing club in Eastbourne has been shut down. Bailiffs entered Indigo Redd in Seaside Road with police officers and a man was arrested but later released without charge.

The premises were boarded up and a notice of forfeiture plastered on the entrances warning people that landlord Hurst Springs Holdings Limited had taken possession of the building. The notice addressed to Paul David Jones and Liza-Jane Jones informed them that their lease dated June 10, 2008 was forfeited.

Hours after the closure, Eastbourne Borough Council's licensing sub-committee reconvened to hear the second stage of a hearing of an application by Indigo Redd to open 24 hours a day seven days a week.

The sub-committee members heard evidence from the council's noise team, the planning department and Sussex Police as well as residents regarding the issues of crime, disorder, noise and nuisance. A council spokesman said, The application was refused on the grounds that an extension of hours would undermine the licensing objectives relating to crime and disorder and the prevention of nuisance. The sub-committee refused the application, having heard insufficient evidence to depart from its cumulative impact policy.