Right at the end of last month Spearmint Rhino were subject to a winding up petition for a relatively small bad debt by the London listings magazine ” Where to go in London “. They are of course still trading but as a further sign that things are not going completely perfectly for them at present I have been told that the Vauxhall site which gained a licence last year will not now be opening as a Spearmint. With the closure of the Uxbridge branch that leaves the chain with just 7 UK clubs and no further new ones as far as I am aware at anything beyond a very early planning stage. Earlier forecasts of 20 UK clubs by the end of 2003 do not look very likely now.
Perhaps my reflections that Rainbow seemed to be losing interest in the stripping industry were a bit premature as they have just launched a quite reasonable new web site www.rainbowsportsbar.co.uk . Lets hope this one gets updated a bit more often than the defunct old Rainbow agency one ever was. They have also opened up a completely new pub for the first time in a while, the Duke of York in Croxley near Watford.
Bar 108 on the Clerkenwell Road closed in the middle of May due to ” license problems” but hopes to re-open soon. Let´s hope this is not another Platinum Bar !
A new organisation called Polekatz { see www.polekatz.co.uk } is organising pole dance competitions for amateurs at the Scene Bar , Old Kent Rd, London. It´s open to male and female dancers and no nudity is allowed. They are also offering pole dancing lessons which are now becoming quite common in London. If you look in sites like Mypole { www.mypole.co.uk } there are regular postings from girls who are interested in becoming strippers/table dancers so there is clearly a market there.
The Sex Maniacs ball has run striptease contests annually for several years and the heats for this years are to be held at a club called Electrowertz in Angel Islington on the 18th of June. Interested entrants {they particularly encourage novices} should call 07770 884 985.
An application in Whitton {west London borough of Richmond} to turn a former pet shop called the Arc in the High Street into a table dancing club has apparently been made.
There has been a considerable boom in table dancing clubs in Lancashire over the past few months. There have been clubs in Blackpool for the last few years but Preston´s first club ” Perfect 10 ” opened in Lune Street just before Christmas followed by Wigan´s first club ” Stilletos ” { see www.stilletos.co.uk} in April . Now further applications are being made for clubs in places like Blackburn, Rossendale, and Bury. Perhaps whippets and pigeons are losing their appeal at last ! In Rotherham a new club called Blue Minx opened in May though building work on Goodfella´s { Sheffield´s 3rd club} has put back the opening date there to late in the year. The new club in Doncaster { now recruiting} due to open in mid June is to be called the Purple Door and is operated by the same people who have a club by that name in Leeds. Lincoln´s first club called The Venue is scheduled to open early in June and is recruiting girls via Laptastic. With the opening in Wisbeach reported early in the year it seems that the UK´s farming community may be losing interest in Morris dancing and switching towards lap dancing !
Talking of South Yorkshire news reached me this month of that rarest of beasts, a strip pub outside Greater London. It´s called Shooters in Masbrough St, Rotherham and is apparently a popular pre football venue.
It seems my announcement of the retirement of Capri Ashby {Brown´s Alex} was premature, I walked into the Griffin early in May and there she was ! It seems she is having a house built in Cyprus and so will be around in London for a few months more yet. I regard her staying on a bit longer as very good news especially as I have just heard that the very beautiful Varona { Miss Shoreditch 2002} is going back to Argentina in July for good. Both girls appear on the Browns web site { www.browns-griffin.co.uk } incidentally if you want to see what you will be missing.
Drama at the Old Axe in Hackney on May bank holiday Monday when the place was surrounded by armed police after a report of weapons being seen inside. Apparently nothing was actually found.
A retirement that did take place in May was that of John the long time landlord of the wonderful White Horse in Shoreditch, my personal favourite strip pub. He has moved to Spain though wife Pauline and daughter Sue are remaining to run the pub as before.
Night club chain Po Na Na {operator of the School Disco and around 50 other sites in the UK} went into administration early in May. They had a sort of joint venture called the Gentlemen´s Club with a few lap dancing places in the South West and Wales, how these will be affected is not yet known.
Tyke
Author: Saxon
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