MEN leaving strip clubs at night are like ‘aggressive stags during breeding season’, says a BCP resident.

Susan Stockwell says customers are leaving Bournemouth strip clubs “all riled up” and become a “crashing nuisance” for the town centre.

The 60-year-old Poole woman has been campaigning against a number of lap dancing businesses in the area, most recently FYEO in Old Christchurch Road.

She raised an objection to the strip club’s latest application to renew its sexual entertainment venue licence for another 12 months.

Susan told the Daily Echo: “There’s something happening to people when they go into a strip club because they come out and there’s violence - and that’s between men, not just sexual violence.

“When you go to the Arne Nature Reserve over on the Purbecks, they have signs up at certain times of the year saying beware of the stags, because it’s breeding season for them, so they become aggressive.

“I thought to myself, that’s what has been happening when someone pays for a dance in a strip club. They’re in the position of the stag, and they get all worked up.”

Bournemouth Echo: Susan Stockwell at BCP Council’s licensing sub-committee meeting on October 26Susan Stockwell at BCP Council’s licensing sub-committee meeting on October 26 (Image: BCP Council)

Susan, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said she began objecting to strip clubs because she wanted Bournemouth to be “safe to walk around at any time, for anyone”.

She noted cases where people had been harassed by customers waiting to go inside the club, and so had avoided walking past them all together.

Despite Susan's concerns and objection, BCP Council’s licensing sub-committee granted FYEO’s application on November 1. 

She said: “It’s a seaside town. We should have a vibrant and safe night time economy, and I just don’t see that happening in Bournemouth.

“But people shouldn’t give up on the town centre – there needs to be a feeling that it's worth fighting for.

“It’s the heart of the conurbation, and what goes on in the heart does effect everybody in the surrounding areas because it sets the standard.

“If people don’t take an interest in it, then you’ll blink and suddenly the problems are on your doorstep as well.”