UK Lap Dancing and Strip Clubs Latest

Strippers have accused Bristol City Council and feminist campaigners of sexist double standards for trying to ban women performing but allowing men to go ahead.

Dreamboys, an all-male collective that has spoken out in support of female strippers, is scheduled to appear at Pryzm nightclub in Bristol. The performance comes as local MPs seek to shut down all lap dancing clubs in Bristol by changing their licensing rules - with the council currently contemplating a ban on the venues.

Tuesday Laveau, who is based in Bristol and has been stripping for 16 years, told The Independent:

One of the fundamental arguments of anti-sex worker feminists is strippers and sex workers are tools of the patriarchy.

But they have no problem choosing what men do with their body. We are not mad at the Dream Boys. They are just working.

The point is the double standards of local MPs and Avon and Somerset's police commissioner. They have no issue with men behaving sexually provocatively for money.

Kings Club had its sexual entertainment licence renewed at a private meeting of Harrogate council's sub-licensing committee last September, but conditions that dancers are paid by bank transfer and do not drink alcohol were attached.

This led to an appeal being lodged by the Oxford Street venue owners who also applied for a new licence set to be decided at another meeting of the sub-committee.

With an appeal hearing at York Magistrates' Court on 28 May looming, a report to meeting said the venue has proposed new conditions in an attempt to resolve the current appeal without the time and costs associated with the determination by the Magistrates' court.

Councillors have been recommended to approve these conditions which include a ban on dancers bringing alcohol onto the premises only and a full audit trail/reconciliation account for how they are paid.

The venue accepted extra conditions already in place, including no drugs allowed on the premises, a need for each dancer to be escorted to a safe mode of transport when they leave, a written record of all fines imposed on dancers and a code of conduct.

The meeting revealed that dancers are required to pay a house fee of £25 per night and receive 70% of payments from customers. There is also a reduction in fees for dancers if they are intoxicated whilst with a customer or refuse to pole dance.

All strip clubs have been closed since March 2020 and are due to reopen on 21 June when all social distancing measures are scheduled to end.

 

Update: Dancers win back cash payments and alcoholic drinks

20th May 2021. See article from darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk

Harrogate's only strip club has dropped a legal challenge against the local council's onerous new licensing conditions after the council agreed to drop 2 conditions that were causing the most grief.

The council agreed to drop rules banning cash payments to dancers and banning them from accepting alcoholic drinks from customers.

Kings Club, on Oxford Street, had its sexual entertainment licence renewed by the council's sub-licensing committee last September but conditions that dancers do not drink alcohol and must be paid by bank transfer led to the owners lodging an appeal with York Magistrates' Court.

The club's legal representative argued an alcohol ban would simply finish the business due to dancers not wanting to work. He said:

We do want dancers to have the opportunity to have a drink with the customers. That is something that has always happened here. It happens in every venue nationally of this type.

Quite often customers will go into the premises and they don't even want to be dancing. They will buy a drink for a dancer and sit and talk to them.

You wouldn't get dancers coming to work here if they weren't allowed to socialise.

It was agreed by councillors today that the venue's new sexual entertainment licence would be renewed with the ban on dancers drinking alcohol and need for them to be paid by bank transfer removed.

Authorities in Blackpool have begun a process they hope will eradicate the town's lap dancing clubs for good in an attempt to make it more family friendly.

There are currently four clubs operating in the resort, but Councillor Adrian Hutton, who chairs the licensing committee, hopes that will drop to zero in the next few years. Hutton said:

Rather than the council forcing venues to cease trading immediately, it is taking a softly, softly approach. When one closes or loses its licence under its current owner we will not renew the licence for anybody else who came along.

He believes the clubs' popularity is because of stag and hen parties which can have a negative effect on Blackpool's image as a family destination:

Those in favour of preserving them argue that their existence has no negative impact on the culture of the city - and, if anything, is good for the local economy.

Toni Mansell, a stripper for ten years responded:

When the clubs do close, a number of women will inevitably lose their jobs. Sex workers are a very disenfranchised faction of people and appear to be under the chopping block all the time.

Members of Sandwell Council's licensing sub committee approved an application to renew the sexual entertainment venue licence for Angels Gentlemen's Club in the High Street for a year.

Committee members heard how there were no objections to the renewal of the licence or reports of any problems with the club since it opened.

Angels has been closed for more than a year due to the coronavirus outbreak and licensee Kulwant Singh had requested the fee for the licence -- which costs more than £3,000 be reduced.

He did not get a very positive answer to the request though.