UK Lap Dancing and Strip Clubs Latest

Sheffield Council is set to discuss 'hugging breaches' and other issues at Spearmint Rhino lap dancing club.

One of the conditions of its licence is that random samples of CCTV footage will be inspected by officers on at least a monthly basis and a report presented to the licensing committee quarterly.

Recordings from various days over November and December were inspected and footage of 35 dances were viewed. Officers found three occasions of dancers hugging customers at the end of performances, which is against the licence rules that state there must be no physical contact between performer

They also found problems with customers attempting to touch dancers and not keeping their hands by their side, but where this did happen dancers stopped their performance or door staff intervened. Officers also raised issues with dancers brushing customers legs although said it appears to be accidental, and they said it was difficult to see some dances as they were performed at the far side of booths.

In the report, Claire Bower, council officer, said: Officers consider the findings to show minor issues and therefore advice has been provided in writing to the the club. The report will be discussed at a meeting on October 5.

A licence has been granted for a new lap dancing club in Barnsley Town Centre. The venue will be the Theatre Royal on Wellington Street.

There are management connections with Wildcats club on the same street which will be closing.

The application states that the new club, which will be called Gentleman Jacks, will feature: fully nude zero contact lap dancing, also focused around craft beer and cocktails. The applicant said:

I would like to convert the former theatre to its former glory, for the public to once again be able to enjoy.

The plans are to convert the historic theatre into two venues, with gentleman's club Gentleman Jack's on the second floor. The ground floor will be converted into a separate nightclub-cum-bar called Cheeky Tiki.

Update: Licence approved

21st September 2020. See article from examinerlive.co.uk

The local council has now approved a sexual entertainment licence for the new venue.

A customer who went to to the financial ombudsman after £13,000 vanished from his bank following a night of drinking at a lap-dancing club has failed to get the disputed money refunded.

He fell asleep in the club and when he woke he still had his card and could remember only a couple of £200 dances. But when he later checked his account he found £12,921 had been taken in six transactions.

The customer claimed he must have been drugged and his details stolen by staff and he sought a refund from his bank, TSB.

When the unnamed club was contacted by the bank they showed receipts for all the disputed transactions. The police declines to get involved citing previous similar cases not finding enough evidence for a prosecution.

A Birmingham Burlesque show is giving up the format over coronavirus restrictions.

The management of Tina Night Club on Broad Street explained that the format wasn't viable in a covid world. Managers are now seeking to convert the venue into a standard bar.

Selfridges is fighting plans to open a strip club directly opposite its new entrance. The department store has objected to an application for a club in Duke Street.

Electshow Ltd, which ran lap dancing venue the Mayfair Club in Dover Street, has applied to Westminster council to turn the existing Blush club into a gentleman's bar offering full nudity, striptease and pole-dancing between 9pm and 6am Monday to Saturday. The Mayfair Club closed in December when the lease ran out.

At a meeting last week, Selfridges QC told Westminster's licensing committee that a strip club has no place here. He argued:

Selfridges needs no introduction. It is an iconic retail store, one of the anchor retail stores of the West End of London and acts as a magnet for visitors.

My clients have spent five years and £300million on a redevelopment of the Duke Street facade to transform it from the rather modest services side of the building to a fine piece of architecture in its own right.

This proposal for a lap dancing club is entirely inimical to the character of this area. It has no place here... This is not [an application] for a corner store. It's a 6am sexual entertainment venue licence and nightclub in a highly sensitive location. It has attracted a large amount of objections.

Westminster council is expected to publish its decision this week.

Cheltenham Council has decided to continue to allow pop up lap dancing venues that appear around major horse racing meetings.

The council dismissed the calls by moralist groups but did add a new law requiring clubs to check ID for customers looking less that 25 years old.

A group of lap-dancers who were filmed without their consent at a strip club have dropped their privacy case.

Feminists commissioned the covert filming which showed dancers sexually touching customers and each other at Spearmint Rhino in Sheffield.

Lap dancers, supported by the club, took legal action against the filming, saying their human rights had been breached.

However, the case has been discontinued with Spearmint Rhino agreeing to pay almost £50,000 in costs.

The feminist group Not Buying It said it hoped the outcome would embolden others to come forward.

It is understood that the club felt it could have won the case but decided not to pursue it because of added financial limitations due to the coronavirus crisis. All lap-dancing clubs remain closed as part of measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Not Buying it is understood to have commissioned private investigators to visit the strip club, as well as another in London, wearing glasses containing hidden cameras.

A group of nine workers from the club then went to court claiming publication of the footage would infringe their human right to respect for private life .

Spearmint Rhino in Sheffield had its licence renewed last year, however campaigners are challenging this with a judicial review expected to be heard later this year.

A Blackpool lap dancing club has been allowed to keep its licence after councillors dismissed unsubstantiated allegations against the operator.

The licensee appeared before a meeting of the council's public protection sub-committee after an objection was received to his application to renew the sexual entertainment venue licence at Sinless on Central Promenade.

The meeting heard allegations had been made against Mr Newton that he had acted inappropriately towards female performers, encouraged drug taking and allowed under-age drinking and performing.

The authority found no evidence to back up the claims.