Lap Dancing in Sussex

Miserable Brighton and Hove City Council is looking to introduce strict quotas to ban any more sex shops and lap dancing clubs within the city's boundaries.

City bosses believe the new powers will give local moralists a greater say in restricting adult businesses.

But critics have warned the review could signal the end for Brighton and Hove being a cheeky tourist destination .

A council report, which will be discussed by the council's licensing committee, recommends lap dancing clubs should be upgraded from public entertainment centres to the same category as sex shops. It states no more than the three current lap dancing clubs should be allowed in the city.

The plans also set maximum appropriate numbers set for sex shops, which includes two in St James's Street, two near Brighton station and one in Hove. Officers state there should be no more anywhere else in the city.

Luminar Leisure, which operates Tru and Oceana nightclubs, has raised fears with the council about whether any new legislation will affect its podium dancers. Burlesque dancers and some Fringe acts could also be affected.

Denise Cobb, chairthing of the council's licensing committee, said: We welcome the new legislation which will give us tighter controls to limit the number and location of lap dancing clubs. We are currently consulting on a draft policy to cover lap dancing clubs and people are welcome to give us their view to help shape this. The consultation period runs until the end of August.

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.

A poster of a scantily clad woman in the window of an Eastbourne lap-dancing club has been partially covered up after police warned the manager displaying it could be a criminal act.

Indigo Redd in Seaside Road was displaying a poster showing a blonde woman in high heels and underwear with a message imprinted.

Sussex Police became involved after Amette Ley, complained it was soft pornography and at eye level for young children.

General manager Leo Valls had said he would not remove the poster and urged Ley to get a grip, claiming the poster was exotic, not erotic.

But an A4 piece of paper has now been pasted on the image, covering the phrase which Ley found offensive.

Julian Williams, neighbourhood policing sergeant said, We received a complaint from a member of the public that a poster was being displayed in the window that was obscene and that her child had seen it. There is a criminal offence of displaying posters etc that are threatening, abusive or offensive, and which cause alarm, harassment or distress. I sent PC Franklin-Lester along to the premises to advise the manager that appropriate action was required and I have since noted that this was done.

Police have released a still image of the moment an arsonist appears to accidentally set himself alight whilst starting the blaze at the Redd club in Burgess Hill. CCTV footage caught the suspect in action as they left the club after starting the fire.

Police say this person may have suffered burns or smoke inhalation and witnesses are urgently being sought by police. Detectives discovered petrol cans at the scene last week and are now appealing for more information.

DI Stu Hale said: We are particularly keen to hear from patrol station operatives who may remember selling full or empty green or red fuel canisters, some days or hours prior to approximately 2am on Tuesday July 15. Your information will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We are also keen to trace the person pictured in the CCTV stills. Do you know of anyone who may have suffered smoke inhalation or other more serious effects caused by fire?

Anyone with information about the arson should call DI Hale at Haywards Heath 0845 60 70 999.

Update: Effigy

30th September 2008. Based on article from theargus.co.uk

A burning effigy of a pole dancer was a hot topic of conversation during a bonfire procession.

The tongue-in-cheek figure played a part in the Burgess Hill Bonfire on Saturday night which attracted more than 5,000 people to the town.

The model was a reminder of the blaze which destroyed lap-dancing club Redd, above the Martlets shopping centre in Burgess Hill, in July.

About 22 bonfire societies from across Sussex turned out for the lengthy procession which went down well with the crowds.

Update: Pagan Temple

9th November 2009. See article from bognor.co.uk

The owner of the arson-wrecked Redd Club says he wants to re-open it as a pagan temple. Leo Valls has told councillors he intends to run the lap-dancing club at The Martlets, Burgess Hill, as a place of religious worship known as Redd Temple.

The upper-storey club and a seperately-run bar underneath were both wrecked by an arson attack last year, although police have been unable to charge anyone for the attack.

An application to rebuild the site has yet to be decided by Mid Sussex District Council, which this week confirmed there is still a current licence.

Police believe a huge fire that ripped through a nightclub in West Sussex was started deliberately.

More than 100 firefighters from Surrey and Sussex tackled the blaze which destroyed the recently-opened Redd lap dancing club in Burgess Hill.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue said the intensity of the fire above the Martlets Shopping Centre on Tuesday had put the lives of their staff at risk.

Sussex Police have appealed for witnesses to contact them.

Det Insp Stu Hale said: We believe Redd's was intentionally targeted by arsonists, and would urge anyone who was in the vicinity of The Martlets shopping precinct from around 1am on Tuesday July 15, to come forward and let us know what they may have seen or heard.

Update: Arsonist Caught on CCTV

28th July 2008

Police have released a still image of the moment an arsonist appears to accidentally set himself alight whilst starting the blaze at the Redd club in Burgess Hill.
CCTV footage caught the suspect in action as they left the club after starting the fire.

Police say this person may have suffered burns or smoke inhalation and witnesses are urgently being sought by police. Detectives discovered petrol cans at the scene last week and are now appealing for more information.

DI Stu Hale said: We are particularly keen to hear from patrol station operatives who may remember selling full or empty green or red fuel canisters, some days or hours prior to approximately 2am on Tuesday July 15. Your information will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We are also keen to trace the person pictured in the CCTV stills. Do you know of anyone who may have suffered smoke inhalation or other more serious effects caused by fire?

Anyone with information about the arson should call DI Hale at Haywards Heath 0845 60 70 999.

A lap-dancing club in Burgess Hill, West Sussex has been destroyed in a massive blaze - just three weeks after it opened amid fierce opposition.

Two firefighters narrowly escaped with their lives after the roof of the venue - which was empty at the time - collapsed in what was described as a 'giant bonfire' that could be seen seven miles away.

Police are investigating the possibility that it was burnt down by someone angry at the decision to launch Club Redd.

Firefighters used a sniffer dog to search for signs of petrol or other flammable liquids and police checked CCTV footage for a possible arsonist in the area early yesterday morning.

Speaking outside the still-smouldering shell today, manager Leo Valls said he was absolutely convinced the fire had been started deliberately. He said: Myself and my fellow owners had been subjected to vicious, abusive, vitriolic attacks on an internet site we set up to promote the club. We also received very unpleasant threats. I have no doubt that this was done by someone who hated the thought of a lapdancing club in Burgess Hill. But we will not let them beat us. We will rebuild and reopen as soon as possible.

Despite the local opposition, Mr Valls had been due to meet with council officials hours after the blaze started to discuss plans to expand the club's size by a third and extend opening times until at least 6am. He said business was booming in the club, which was open from Tuesday to Saturday and took up to £9,000 a night.

Worthing's self-appointed moral guardian Steve Stevens forced the council's licensing sub-committee to close its meeting to the public after shouting out from the public gallery. Stevens was escorted from the meeting by two security guards.

The 89-year-old war veteran and nutter submitted a 600 signature petition to the council against plans for erotic dancing at the Liquid Lounge in Chatsworth Road.

The prospect of fully-nude men and women had helped fuel nutters, but the club's general manager James Lanz told the Herald: One of the conditions we have agreed does state that genitalia will be covered at all times.

Sussex Police withdrew its representation to the committee after the club agreed to several conditions.

• No audience participation, and no physical contact between customers and the dancer during or after the performance.
• No person under 18 be allowed on the premises while striptease/lap dancing is taking place, and clear warning notices be displayed at entrances.
• All dancers/performers must be aged at least 18 and legally entitled to work at the club.
• That performances of pole dancing/lap dancing end by 3.30am.

Objections to the application included a letter from Mark Weeden, pastor at The Worthing Tabernacle who ludicrously belittles his fellow man: Married men stirred up in this way are more likely to batter their wives, push them to 'perform' as the strippers did, or to commit adultery. Allowing lap-dancing will mean an increase in prostitution, whether with the dancers themselves, or prostitutes in surrounding areas.

Update: Open

Liquid Lounge opened on 1st July 2008

A whole town will "burn in hell" if it allows lap dancing at a nightclub according to veteran anti-porn nutter Steve Stevens, 89. He said Worthing will be eternally damned if it allows the Liquid Lounge nightclub to put on nude and semi-nude shows.

And the town's brush with Beelzebub could come sooner rather than later, with a committee of politicians due to decide whether to give the go-ahead to the plan later this month.

The pensioner has now started a petition against the club's plans and says he has secured more than 300 signatures on it.

Liquid Lounge, which has run regular club nights at its four room venue for years, wants to put on the lap dancing and stripping shows for members only.

General manager James Lanz said the nights would be tasteful and fully policed by security staff. He said: We are aiming at the Adonis cabaret-style show for ladies and tasteful nude and semi-nude dancers for men. This has worked very well, trouble-free, in many other towns. This will, of course, be run very strictly for members only and for over-18s, or possibly over-21s.

The club has applied to run the lap dancing nights in its ground floor Le Chic room. It would be Worthing's first ever lap dancing club.

Sussex Police officers have said they would only be able to object if it was shown that disorder could result from the lap dancing nights. But licensing officer PC Mike Webb added that the force was not a "moral guardian" of the town.

Worthing Borough Council's licensing committee is due to decide whether to allow the lap dancing at a meeting on March 27.

About 100 people turned out in Stoneham Park in Hove to show their opposition to a bid by the Portland Hotel in Portland Road to host strip shows until 4am.

Green city councillor and prospective Parliamentary candidate Ian Davey welcomed the turnout: It just shows the real strength of feeling in the local community against these ridiculous and outrageous proposals.

Coun Davey said: Our message to the committee is, 'just say no'.

He said more than 60 people had written letters of objection and a 150-signature petition has been handed to the council.

The Portland's landlord has defended the bid, explaining he wants the new licence to allow smokers outside later and that exotic dancing events would not be held regularly, if at all.

Brighton and Hove City Council's licensing panel met on 17th January to determine the application.

Plans for exotic dancing in the Portland Hotel, Portland Road, Hove, have been met with predictable 'fury' by local nutters.

But John Sturgeon, the joint licensee for the hotel and pub, said the main thrust of the application was to allow smokers to satisfy their habits until 4.30am, rather than turn the venue into a strip club. He added that if he does decide to hold events they will not involve full nudity.

He said: Smoking has killed the trade and we need to do anything we can to pay the bills. We are not trying to upset anyone and if we do use it would be table dancing and it would not be regular.

Celia Barlow, nutter MP for Hove, has written to the chairman of the council's licensing committee to express her opposition: This application is utterly inappropriate for a residential area such as Portland Road. There are a large number of young families in this area, as well as a local junior school. These clubs have no place in a community such as this. I hope the licensing committee rejects this idea for the madness it is.

City councillor and prospective Green Parliamentary candidate for Hove Ian Davey lives near the venue. He said: Local residents are both shocked and scared by this move from the pub to set up a pole and lap dancing establishment on their doorstep. Whilst this is a generally peaceful residential area, residents like many others in the city are suffering increasingly from sleepless nights as a consequence of ever later licences.

Residents have gathered more than 50 letters and a petition with 150 names objecting to the proposals.

If the licence is granted, it would become the sixth venue to hold exotic dancing in the city. Consultation has now closed but because of opposition to the move a licensing committee will rule on the application in the New Year.