UK Strip Clubs Blog

I have been looking through the web and some stuff about the SEV (Sexual Entertainment License) and I found a few interesting things.

The products/entertainment covered: lap dancing, pole dancing, table dancing, strip shows, peep shows and live sex shows. Since when could you see a live sex show in the UK? Which pen pushing civil servant added that to the list and is there a department which only deals with the matter?

There are now agencies selling ‘expert advice’ on getting, avoiding and complying with the SEV legislation. You can search on the web yourself if you want to find out more. The new legislation has created a new industry! At least something positive has come out of the shambles of the new SEV legislation. The interesting part is not that more money than just the license will be bled from the industry but that the new legislation (which took so much time and money) is so complicated that you need a consultant to understand it or your venue may be at risk!

Hartlepool Council has been public about changing policy on strip clubs. Number of venues: one. Little Black Book. How much money was spent (in these times when everyone is feeling the pinch) on this lonesome crusade? The club could almost feel slightly persecuted, meetings just for them. Either that or the council are skint and they plan half a dozen new licenses to raise cash…

We’ve been doing this blog for ages and we have never mentioned Charlie Sheen! There are rumours in the industry in the industry in the US that he single handedly kept the industry going, and invented lap dancing in his lunch hour. He has never confirmed this but we know…

Mr Sheen has now been granted the ultimate honour, his own dedicated VIP lounge in the US club The Cheetah Club. He’s not had time to christen it yet, maybe his newfound web viral fame is keeping him occupied or maybe hes been back to Vegas.

Who should the UK industry make a tribute to? A brass statue to the Unknown Merchant Banker, The Premiership League champagne lounge, the reality TV VIP area, the Lemmy Bar or the Keefer Sutherland 24 hour suite.

If Michael Jackson can get a statue at Fulham then anything possible, or maybe like Premiership football grounds strip clubs just need sponsorship?

Join Charlie Sheen on Twitter now and see what this modern day hero is doing now.

In the news this week, Club Noir in Glasgow are winning all sorts of awards for their club. Now listed as one of the top 10 clubs in the world. Good for them. The rub for strip fans is that they are ‘burlesque’ club rather than a regular strip club.

Why has the name of strip clubs, table dancing clubs, pole dancing clubs and especially lap dancing clubs been so tainted that they are almost everyones favourite cause for crime, mayhem, sex trafficing and drugs? Why does burlesque enjoy such an arty and mainstream reputation when lets face it they offer basically the same product. How could you repackage the average strip club in a like way to get that sort of acclaim. We are not talking about licenses here we are talking about opinion.

There have been steps to upscale the strip club and as far as I can the only effect was to put the industry over the castle parapet and make it an easier target for a whole new army of protesters. No matter how plush your club is, how many security you have and how well they work, no matter how good your record on disorder is the stigma of a strip club remains. That was even before the new legislation.

There seems to be an uneven playing field for pubs and clubs, pubs get ’3 strikes and your out’ whereas councils seem to be champing at the bit to close flourishing venues with an amazing record on disorder. Legislation is always open to interpretation, and the 2008 strip bill is being used so differently across the UK that its hard to believe we are better off.

Clubs need to shake off their image, the variation in venues is huge from a Stringfellows or For Your Eyes Only to a local strip bar or strip pub. Why are they all treated the same?

Oxford club The Lodge are to challenge the ruling by the local council to refuse licenses to any clubs in a blanket ban, the council asked for new applications just over a year ago admitting that they would have no grounds for a ban!

Owners Caz Carrington and Al Thompson have pledged to take their protest all the way, creating a test case for any club refused a license since the new legislation came in. If the club gets anywhere it will show up the lack of joined up thinking of the government, and see a lot more clubs opening hopefully. Since there are quite a few clubs opening and many more refused under the doubtful legislation it is likely that there would more clubs than ever much to the fury of many!

The Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence was refused purely on the grounds of the ‘regard to the character of the relevant locality and the use to which other premises in the vicinity are put’ which as any venue owners will know is one of the most abused and open to interpretation of all the excuses the anti-industry lobby use. Any area could claim to be unsuitable (all you need to have is a school, church or old persons home) so the question would be why dont all areas do the same? Why would anyone put up with a strip club? The two facts are that venues bring in money and security to an area-stay with me-in terms of the areas they usually occupy and the extra measures they pay for. Also the objection is unprovable and specious. Clubs get refused or just hassled because of a small amount of complaints, you dont need a giant campaign to get a club closed. This is not democracy, this is politics. This reason is perfect for a small amount of complaints and the local media.

Well, we will follow this, without much hope of course. There is a chink of light at the end of the tunnel though. The slopping out/prison challenge in Scotland and endless EU related matters point to a chance of something happening. Maybe not for The Lodge, but for the industry in general. I am surprised that the industry has not got an EU human rights campaign going for dancers, and the longer the postcode lottery of club licenses goes on and we seem to be at the mercy of shadowy forces the chances of someone taking their protest higher up increases.

The Lodge club Story shows that the industry has a bit of life left…