Brighton in striptease panic
After the news that four strip clubs are set to open, Brighton and Hove City Council is now pushing for a change in national policy to allow a ban on all new clubs.
A motion is to be presented to a meeting of the full council asking officers to investigate whether a cap can be introduced.
The paranoid Councillors will lobby the Government to change its licensing guidelines which allow gentlemen's clubs to hold lap-dancing with the same licence as a church hall featuring line-dancing. Which is odd, given the hoopps most other councils force venues to jump through...
London boroughs are currently the only local authorities in the country allowed to set limits on strip club numbers, and Jeane Lepper, chairwoman of the licensing committee, is pushing for Brighton and Hove to be afforded the same protection.
The motion reads: The council is convinced that an expansion of this type of entertainment would set the wrong tone for the city, that it could undermine the licensing objectives, particularly in respect of the prevention of crime and disorder and protection of children from harm.
Lepper said "We want to have some control of what is opening in the city and at the moment we fell that we are almost powerless to stop this. We are not just concerned about new venues but also established venues going down that route.
The council also wants to take into account the impact on the character of an area and proximity to schools when discussing bids for new clubs."
A moralising spokeswoman for Brighton police claimed "Brighton and Hove police are not taking a moral standpoint on this issue but have always expressed their concern that this type of venue will attract the wrong type of visitor (like who?) to the city which might have an adverse effect on crime and disorder. And because of this, it is our opinion that the city does not need more sex-encounter establishments."
Brighton archive
Brighton
In a piece in today's Times newspaper about the smoking ban, three dancers are pictured in their "working clothes" standing and smoking cigarettes outside the door of a venue called Top Totty in Brighton. Don't know if this is likely to be a regular sight here, or at any other venues around the country - let's hope so!
