OBJECTORS to a proposed lap dancing venue in Sheffield city centre were celebrating this week after the scheme was rejected by councillors.
Some protesters staged a demonstration in front of the Town Hall - before permission to turn the Steelhouse bar in West Street, at the back of the City Hall, into a place called Wildcats was refused.
Councillors decided that it was the wrong location for a lap dance club, out of keeping with an area where it was hoped to attract visitors and investors and where there was the potential for disturbing residents with noise and other late night nuisance.
Some critics claimed a sex-orientated venue would put the safety of women at risk, but officers said their recommendation was based on the impact on the area, not on moral grounds.
The application from Leeds-based Harjen Ltd for a venue that stays open until 4am at weekends and 3am during the week prompted a total of 165 objections, including from representation from individuals, Sheffield City Centre Residents Action Group, Sheffield Cathedral, Quaker Meeting House and Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield.
Plans to double the size of a Leeds lap dancing club are facing objections – months after a campaign to cap the number of city centre strip venues failed.
Illuminati Ventures has applied to Leeds City Council for permission to expand the current Black Diamond club on New Briggate from two floors to four.
If approved, the new club would be renamed Tantric Blue.
But Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, who led a campaign last year to limit the number of sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) in Leeds, has written to the council to object.
She said: “The last thing Leeds needs is a new lap dancing club.
LORD Shayler’s controversial strip club will no longer provide lap-dancing services after it was converted into a night club last week.
Only four months after Shayler’s opened for the first time, amid protests and demonstrations from angry residents, the site on Church Street in Ampthill is to drop lap-dances and strip performances and become an ordinary night club.
The announcement was made via the official Shayler’s Twitter page on Monday after members of the public asked if the establishment would be closing down.
After one woman asked: ‘So no more dancers?’ the response said: ‘Nope no dancers, just a nice club everyone welcome. As from this Friday from 8pm.’
It was also revealed that the big changes would involve a new entry price of £5 down from the original £20 fee on opening night in November and that it would now only be open on Friday and Saturday nights and not on Thursdays..
It has taken a year and £118,000 of taxpayers' money to determine what some might argue was a foregone conclusion - lap-dance and striptease clubs are not welcome near schools.
Research into the effects of sexual entertainment venues on towns and cities was carried out by the University of Kent's School of Social Policy.
The £118,000 project - Sexual Entertainment Venues and the management of risk - was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, a non-departmental public body that receives most of its funding through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
It canvassed residents in Maidstone, Lincoln, Newcastle and Brighton due to the variety of nighttime venues in each area.
Not surprisingly, it found 83% of respondents felt lap-dancing clubs are not appropriate near schools or nurseries.
CIVIC bosses will try to close down a controversial lap dancing club which has already had its booze licence revoked.
Durham County Councillors are to be asked to ban lap dancing from Red Velvet in Front Street, Consett, when they meet next week.
Red Velvet, the only lap dancing club in the county, was the subject of a drugs raid last month when police claim staff and dancers were seen selling cocaine to customers.
House mother Dolce Byron and former manager David Bartley are now on police bail pending further inquiries while two dancers were cautioned following the December 14 raid.
Last week, Durham County Council’s licensing sub-committee revoked Red Velvet’s drinks licence after a request by police licensing officer Sgt Tim Robson, who described the “gentlemen’s club” above Captain Cod fish and chip shop as “rundown, dirty, seedy premises,” claiming he saw blood on the ceiling, frayed carpets, and curtains and seats that were torn and ripped.