Response is mixed to lap dance clubs plan (From Bournemouth Echo)

Response is mixed to lap dance clubs plan

7:00pm Thursday 24th July 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share

"SIN City" could be set for a showdown come the next election.

Theresa May, the Tories spokesman for women announced yesterday the party would make it easier for councils to stop new clubs opening if they get into power.

The head of Bournemouth council welcomed the idea - but the town's club owners saw it as "ludicrous" and unnecessary legislation.

Lap dancing clubs are currently classed in the same category as pubs or coffee shops for licensing purposes.

Theresa May said this "silenced communities" and forced councils to pass licences.

Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East, said: "There is clear ambiguity in the law."

Richard Carr's leisure company Future 3000 which is in administration includes the lap dancing club Wiggle.

He said: "The UK keeps passing more laws but why do we need to me more controlled than our European neighbours?

"They have clubs everywhere.

"To me it seems ridiculous. If you don't like them, don't go in them."

Glen Nicie the managing director of For Your Eyes Only, opposed more legislation, especially dual licences to sell alcohol and providing sexual encounters'.

"Our business is sexy but labelling it as sexual encounters' suggests there's physical contact," he said. "Most people accept it now as harmless fun."

He said local councils could already oppose clubs through planning regulations, adding: "I have spent £45,000 in the process of getting planning permission from Bournemouth and Southampton councils."

Bournemouth Council leader Stephen MacLoughlin "welcomed" the prospect of extra powers.

He added: "Some people don't think we should have these establishments at all, but we thinking should have a balanced view."

Cllr Andrew Morgan, head of the licensing board, said: "It's a sensitive subject and there's concern in the community but we also need to remember these are legal business that operate in the law.

"We've had no applications of that sort since I came on to the board in last May. I believe the last one was an application for within the Imax building but that was withdrawn."

The number of lap-dancing clubs in Britain has doubled to around 300 since 2004.

David Clutterbuck, head of The East Cliff and Town Centre resident association, has dubbed Bournemouth "Sin City" for its four lap dancing clubs.

• Print
• Email
• Share