FYEO have announced that they plan to open a club in Cardiff

I understand that Routemaster hero Ken Livingstone wasted just over £20k of London ratepayers money trying to stop Rembrandts opening last year. Talking of rabid bigots George Galloway MP has made the closure of Tower Hamlets strip venues a top priority for 2007. All this ridiculous nonsense has apparently caused the local Labour councillors to object to the long established strip pub the Nags Head trying to expand upstairs. This also may help explain the nonsensical ongoing license problems at the Beehive at Bow.

Top London dancer and well known model {as Donna Ambrose} the lovely Danica  has apparently retired from live stripping. I also hear that equally beautiful ex Browns star Sunni who has worked on the Shoreditch scene since the late 1980s has also retired.

I understand that gay venue the New Union Hotel in Princess St, Manchester has started having Sunday evening female strip shows as well as the regular gay male shows it has had for a while. It seems rather like the Eagle in Newcastle gay bars are not subject to the same council scrutiny as heterosexual ones. A non gay pub called the Victoria in Lostock Hall, near Preston is applying to put on regular Sunday strip shows against council opposition.

Club openings are also continuing throughout the UK at a very high rate with large places getting even more clubs and ever smaller towns getting their first. A first club called “The Cave” in Chichester has now got a license and should open soon, also there is a new as yet unnamed private members only club opening in Redhill, Surrey. A new club called the “Boho Rooms”  opened in canalside central Birmingham just before Christmas and the former Pink Flamingo has re-emerged as “Jonny Diamonds” see www.jonnydiamonds.co.uk in Holloway Head
I make that 12 clubs now in the city with several more nearby in places like Dudley and Wolverhampton. A club called “Angels” has opened in Eastleigh, Southampton { I make that 4 there now}and also an unusual private members club called “The Hide” in Swinton which combines lap dancing with female domination ! York’s 2nd club “Bohemia” finally opened on January 12th despite some local opposition. The 2nd club in Skegness mentioned in October’s column has emerged under the unusual name of “Isabella’s crazy girls” in the Parade nightclub complex.

A 1st club in Wrexham called Hot Peppers opened just before Christmas and permission has also been granted to convert the Victoria pub in King St, Newcastle under Lyme to that town’s 1st club. Elliots Bar in Aqueduct St in Preston has applied for a license to become the 3rd place in town. I understand a club called “Pulse” in Sunderland may be starting regular lap dancing nights soon and that the “Forge” in Cannock now has girls on every Wednesday. The “Red Velvet” the first club in Consett, Durham mentioned in December’s column has got a license despite local opposition and should open by Easter. A new venue called “Tiffany’s in Devon” supplied by Angel’s Exotic is opening in Exeter at the end of the month.

After many months of council time wasting a license to start lap dancing at Shakers in Burnham on sea has been given at last. This whole process started almost a year ago.

The 4th “Wildcats” club in the north of England and the 1st club in Barnsley is still expected to open during February and I understand that a 5th Wildcats club is opening in Kirkgate, Huddersfield { that town’s 2nd}very soon plus the 6th in Leeds mentioned in earlier columns is still expected to open early in the spring.
Refurbishment work at Daddy O’s Showbar in Edinburgh has revealed a genuine Victorian pub front one of the very few to have survived in that historic city. The Piano bar in Twickenham now has a web sitewww.piano-lounge.co.uk, as has XS in Hastings.

Wakefield club “Jail bait” which closed down last year is to be converted into that town’s first alcohol free bar!

Tyke