XX CLOSED GL53 7HA Fantasy, Cheltenham

[Victor23]

Latest article (one of several)

here

followed by a reasoned article

here

with a couple of comments citing the Newquay police claim about clubs there encouraging rape and violence - something they later admitted they could not back up with facts.

Vic

[Victor23]

Has just opened as the Fantasy Gentlemen's Club.

article

with lots of comments.

website

I can't work out exactly where it is and its address. Brute may do better.


Vic

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

Fantasy Gentlemen's Club
12 Bath Road
CHELTEHNAM
GL53 7HA

The website is less than helpful re the location of the Cheltenham club; it took a couple of Google searches to find out the address, based on the details of the old Voodoo Club.

Also, I note from the article linked to that, "The Salvation Army had collected 665 names on a petition calling on Cheltenham Borough Council to set a zero limit on sexual entertainment venue licences in the borough."

I'd love to see the wording of that petition...

[Victor23]

further protest against Cheltenham clubs in general

Some good comments by Togster, Libertarian and Keiths1.

[Victor23]

No all-out ban

[Victor23]

more detailed report

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

So, let me guess...next time Fantasy's licence is up for renewal, we can expect the standard public bunfight, with the usual suspects reeling off the same old unsubtantiated claims as non-evidence in support of closure, right?

I hope that Fantasy's owners are already preparing for a judicial review, given the strong possibility that 'grandfather rights' won't be granted.

[Victor23]

licence renewal sought

The owner? manager? claims that there has “never been one single issue” of trouble at the club since it opened.

[sinless69uk]

Renewed despite 25 objections

http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/La ... story.html

[Victor23]

Twenty-five, out of a population of 110,000! And I guess that some of those 25 were orchestrated by the self-styled feminists.

"It is close to the shops and residents and the local Sainsbury’s, which is used by families." At 10 o'clock at night?

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

Ooh, the old 're-si-den-tial a-re-a' chestnut!
It's a sign that the 'antis' are grasping at straws...I'd love to see the objection letters for myself.

[Victor23]

Re-opening opposed by "Chelt Fems"

article

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

From the above article:

'Jo Bartosch, who chairs feminist group Chelt Fems said: "Men who think it's acceptable to pay women to feign sexual interest in them don't shed this attitude when they leave the club. I feel a palpable sense of threat when I walk through town during race weekends and have been subjected to cat calls and sexual harassment. I know that this is experienced by many women in Cheltenham and certainly most of us within Chelt Fems. The ramifications of CBC granting a licence stretch far beyond those who work at or patronise Fantasy; effectively women in the area will be kept under curfew, with the rights of lecherous men prioritised above our right to walk as we like free from harassment."'


Now, does this remind anyone here of the kind of claims made about the Hackney venues in Object Now's boilerplate letter a few years ago? It would be both interesting and informative to find out how exactly many formal complaints about sexual harassment had been made to Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire Constabulary when the club was open.

It's also notable that Councillor Garth Barnes is trying to stretch the definition of 'inappropriate location' until it snaps!

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

For anyone who's interested, this is the Chelt Fems website:

http://www.cheltfems.org.uk/


As one would probably expect, there's a fair amount of SWERF rhetoric on there...

[sinless69uk]

Cheltenham Fems continuing to lie to Gloucestershire Echo.

http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Ch ... story.html

Considering the entire female population will be under curfew if the club reopens, it seems 5 objections is a bit pathetic.

[Victor23]

So much to criticise in the comments:

"They also said it would be inappropriate to allow the use near a public park, places sensitive for religious purposes, those that provide lunch clubs for the elderly and activities for children, a nursery, a theatre, businesses and other leisure facilities used by families."

After 2200 at night?

"Members of Chelt Fems who work in pubs and clubs during race week have reported experiencing horrifying sexual harassment from men who have been visiting lapdancing clubs."

How did they know that the men in question had been visiting lap-dancing clubs? Have they not had similar treatment from men who have NOT been visiting lap-dancingclubs?

"She added that if the council granted the licence, her group members would feel like they were being kept under curfew at night."

But surely all the "pathetic failures" will be inside the club, leaving the CheltFems free to be, ahem, out on the streets between 2200 and 0400?

And so on.

Having said that, given the current Zeitgeist, I feel it unwise for a venue to be named "Fantasy" or "Eroticats" and certainly to flypost.

In referring to Zeitgeist, I'm thinking of the current attitude towards venues displayed by a minority. Ironically, of course, we live in a period of sexual enlightenment: nude selfies, Web porn, Sugardaddying, Have-an-affair websites and so on. One might wonder what turns the CheltFems on?

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

I suspect that the only thing which turns people like the CheltFems on is the thought of leveraging unearned power over the general population, through the use of dishonest rhetoric and emotional blackmail tactics.

[Victor23]

As Fantasy has been closed for some months, may we assume that through the winter the Chelt Fems have been out about in Cheltenham at all hours without a care or fear in the world? And that this will all change the moment the venue re-opens?

[sinless69uk]

Cllr Klara Sudbury's twitter feed says "Fantasy application is approved subject to work to building being signed off by environmental health & fire safety officers".

I suppose the curfew will allow Cheltenham Fems time to invent new stories for next year's renewal..

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

...Or more likely, polish up the same old stories, and recycle a couple more oldies from the Object archive!

[Victor23]

Channel-hopping last night, I came across "Frustrated Britain - Caught on Camera", which had a segment about night-life in Cheltenham and attempts to control queues for taxis, with lots of effing and blinding. I don't know whether or not it was filmed during the time that Fantasy was closed, but I doubt very much whether the hostile atmosphere could be attributed entirely to its patrons. Presumably the town has other night-spots whose patrons cause disquiet.

But I suppose the CheltFems might seize on the programme title and claim that "Frustrated" was how Fantasy customers feel after an evening there and so ...

[Victor23]

Race festival entertainment

[Victor23]

Reading of public misbehaviour this week in Cheltenham

such as is reported here

I would have thought that the Cheltfems had other things about which to get their knickers twisted than regulated stripping in private with security on the doors.

[Victor23]

A bit late, but I've only just come across

this article

about Fantasy re-opening for Cheltenham Festival Week

[The Great Smell Of Brute]

I would have thought that the Cheltfems had other things about which to get their knickers twisted than regulated stripping in private with security on the doors.

That assumes that they're genuinely interested in the rights and welfare of other women, rather than regarding them as grist to the group's ideological mill.