The word from Spearmint Rhino is that they are going to appeal the rejection of their new license application by Camden council and will continue appealing through all available courts until they succeed in getting the decision overturned. They are confident about achieving this and say that in any case the appeal process could take several years during which they will continue as before. This will be a very interesting legal test case as Spearmint has the financial and legal muscle plus the commercial imperative to properly test council’s authority in the modern EU single market to impose arbitrary rules based on moral disapproval. A victory for Spearmint could be very significant for the UK strip scene in total
The largest, longest established, and busiest of the old London strip pubs is Browns { see www.browns-griffin.com , the opening sequence features 2002 Miss Shoreditch Varona } which is in Shoreditch and caters for a predominantly city of London trade.
Browns has converted from a straight strip pub to do table dancing and now has a décor to compare with the best of the central London places together with girls also the equal of anywhere in the capital. Browns does it’s own bookings and has very exacting standards. It still however does not charge on the door and maintains normal beer prices and so represents an interesting hybrid of the old London strip pub and the new US style places. Girls who currently work there regularly include Capri Ashby nee Alex { see www.capri-ashby.com} and Ali Clement nee Elouise { see aliclement.co.uk } .
Sexy Sam Kirli has put a dairy of her exploits in the Sahara on her web site{ see www.samkirli.co.uk } for McMillan cancer relief. She enjoyed the experience so much that she currently plans to do a similar trek in the Himalayas {for McMillan again} in October and in the Andes {for the NSPCC} in May 2003. Sponsors are once again being sought for these worthwhile causes. Sam currently works at Spearmint Tottenham Court Rd Monday to Thursday.
The decline of Rainbow as the dominant agency for strip pubs throughout London has been a feature of the new millenium. A number of smaller agencies including Entertease, Promises, and Alastair Watts have grown up covering outer London and several of the old inner London full time places like the Flying Scot and the Axe now do their own bookings. The boss of Rainbow, Mervyn Thomas , also runs a financially successful {though very poor quality} strip bar in Shoreditch called the Rainbow Sports Bar and this seems to have led to a decline in his interest in the agency side. The agency side was run very successfully by ex stripper Jacqui Martine but she tragically died in 1999, and since then it seems to have lost direction. Recently former stalwart Rainbow girl Lorraine took over this role and it remains to be seen if she can reverse the recent trends.
Working for the smaller agencies in a number of these mainly West London pubs these days are a range of well known models including Vicki Holloway { see www.vicki-holloway.co.uk }, Lucy Gresty { see www.lucy-gresty.co.uk }, and Australian Chanta Rose { see www.chantarose.co.uk }. Chanta’s site is a particularly interesting one as on it she keeps a regularly updated diary of her stripping and modelling exploits. Chanta used to be a regular at the Axe but comments in her diary that since the council crackdown on raunch { as reported last month} the place is less lucrative than it used to be.
The trial of Metropolis boss Steve Martin on child sex offences has reportedly been set for the 5th August at Southwark. This trial is bound to create a deal of publicity and will doubtless be used by tabloids as an excuse for a load of titillating articles on the strip scene. If found guilty it will lead to license problems and may result in this very long established venue changing hands.
Tyke
Author: Saxon
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