** EH3 9DJ Baby Dolls (was Hooters), Edinburgh
Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:54 am
In Edinburgh for a few days on a work trip, I had a little free time to check out the strip clubs of the Tollcross area and try a couple of them. There are three strip clubs: Burke & Hare, Hooters and Western Bar facing each other as the points of a triangle in High Riggs (Edinburgh’s well-known ‘pubic triangle’). Less than 5 minutes walk away are two more establishments almost next to each other on Lothian Road, namely Sapphire Room and Bottoms Up Show Bar; also nearby are Fantasy Palace (Shandwick Place) and Liquorice Club (Home Rd). Visited two of these: Burke and Hare (see separate post) and Hooters.
When I arrived at Hooters it was rammed, 40 lads up from northern England for a stag night, could hardly breathe at first in there, but they moved on after a while giving me a chance to look around. A longish bar takes up much of the space, a mirrored stage with pole at the end nearest the door, and a separate room for the private dances, behind a curtain. Back home in London, I prefer pubs rather than clubs and avoid the upmarket clubs, and I felt quite comfortable here (once the stag party had left). It was a bit smarter than the rather grungy Burke and Hare, but not an upmarket place.
Unfortunately, a basic problem soon became apparent - there were not many girls, I think four in total. One of the dancers told me that several of the girls who normally work there had phoned in sick. This meant the place was pretty flat. The girls who were working were ok, reasonably attractive, not particularly memorable. There were very few stage dances – maybe one an hour – and the performances were lacklustre. Also one of the charms of a strip venue is seeing lots of attractive girls walking around in their underwear, while you sip your beer and make up your mind which one you will choose next for a private dance. But at times there were none or only one girl visible in the main bar, the others on private dance duty or perhaps outside on a cigarette break.
The private dance area was a small room with a couple of sofas for the customers. For £10 you got a quite good, if rather short, lapdance. A £20 dance was essentially the same, but longer duration. I had dances with three of the girls and they were all perfectly competent but less fun than the ones in the Burke and Hare. Although all the girls were pleasant enough, having had a few PDs and with no stage dances didn’t seem worth staying longer, so headed for the exit, feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
Don’t want to generalise too much on the basis of only one visit, and the place did have some plus points – the PDs were ok and only a tenner, the bar staff were fine, the girls I spoke to said it was a decent place to work, and there are good and not-so-good nights at most venues. Perhaps on another night Hooters would be better, but this time it was fairly dull and disappointing.
I should add entry fee is £5 and website is here:
http://www.hootersshowbar.com/hooters_show_bar.htm
When I arrived at Hooters it was rammed, 40 lads up from northern England for a stag night, could hardly breathe at first in there, but they moved on after a while giving me a chance to look around. A longish bar takes up much of the space, a mirrored stage with pole at the end nearest the door, and a separate room for the private dances, behind a curtain. Back home in London, I prefer pubs rather than clubs and avoid the upmarket clubs, and I felt quite comfortable here (once the stag party had left). It was a bit smarter than the rather grungy Burke and Hare, but not an upmarket place.
Unfortunately, a basic problem soon became apparent - there were not many girls, I think four in total. One of the dancers told me that several of the girls who normally work there had phoned in sick. This meant the place was pretty flat. The girls who were working were ok, reasonably attractive, not particularly memorable. There were very few stage dances – maybe one an hour – and the performances were lacklustre. Also one of the charms of a strip venue is seeing lots of attractive girls walking around in their underwear, while you sip your beer and make up your mind which one you will choose next for a private dance. But at times there were none or only one girl visible in the main bar, the others on private dance duty or perhaps outside on a cigarette break.
The private dance area was a small room with a couple of sofas for the customers. For £10 you got a quite good, if rather short, lapdance. A £20 dance was essentially the same, but longer duration. I had dances with three of the girls and they were all perfectly competent but less fun than the ones in the Burke and Hare. Although all the girls were pleasant enough, having had a few PDs and with no stage dances didn’t seem worth staying longer, so headed for the exit, feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
Don’t want to generalise too much on the basis of only one visit, and the place did have some plus points – the PDs were ok and only a tenner, the bar staff were fine, the girls I spoke to said it was a decent place to work, and there are good and not-so-good nights at most venues. Perhaps on another night Hooters would be better, but this time it was fairly dull and disappointing.
I should add entry fee is £5 and website is here:
http://www.hootersshowbar.com/hooters_show_bar.htm