Judging by the comments of several club owners I know the latest trend seems to be that the pool of experienced girls seems to be getting too shallow to cope with the constant influx of new clubs opening. As yet the extension of the EU into Eastern Europe has not prompted the expected rush of girls from that quarter and I also get the impression that some UK based dancers have got disillusioned with paying to work in an ever expanding number of increasingly empty clubs
This is most noticeable outside London though even in the capital several clubs now seem to have permanent adverts in the “Stage”. You can tell how mainstream lap dancing has become as it´s now an entry in the Oxford Dictionary!
The ” Forum” club of Camden has now got a full 7 day license for nudity after it´s application which was mentioned in April´s column, Mean Fiddler though have issued a statement that this is still only for the long established Sunday afternoon “Church” sessions. I understand that Raymond´s Review Bar has finally closed it´s doors for business after over 40 years.
I also hear that the on again/off again takeover of FYEO Mayfair by DeJaVu {to have been branded Larry Flynt´s Hustler club} is finally off, I assume this means they will be looking at other London clubs. Miss Shoreditch 2002 Varona´s all too brief comeback in London ended in July but I understand she may be back again in 2005.
Hackney road club Images closed during the month reportedly due to license problems, it is rumoured that it may re-open though personally I would not bet on it. Also closing for strip is the Promises pub the Horse and Groom in Plumstead which has apparently fallen victim to the UK´s stupid compensation culture and can now no longer afford the insurance premiums.
Price competition in Shoreditch in the afternoons is hoting up, following on from Brown´s afternoon price reductions the nearby Sports Bar is now offering 2 table dances for £10 up to 6pm. At Browns meantime the closing time has been extended to 1am early in the week and 2am Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Foresters pub in Southend {actually the first pub I ever saw a stripper in during 1976} now has a web site complete with dancer schedules www.freewebs.com/foresters-southend
News of the first full time club in Aylesbury, Berkshire called the St James {see www.stjamesleisure.co.uk } which looks very plush in the photos although as I understand it it´s topless only at the moment. Another new club called Indigo´s has opened in Hatfield with girls on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. Also Ashford in Kent got it´s first club on July 14th called Platinum, there is a web site www.hot-city-babes.co.uk .
Stripping/pole dancing lessons have been one of the biggest growth areas of business in the last couple of years. The vast bulk of courses so far are in London where Mypole currently lists 11 organisations offering them.
Welcome news then of a firstly of a new school in Kent via www.pilatesstudiokent.co.ukbased in Maidstone and also that Club Smile of Milton Keynes is now offering classes on Mondays and Thursdays contact either via the club asking for Ayra or e mail. Meanwhile in Bristol the longer established and very successful classes at the Central Chambers club were recently featured on the local BBC news programme. The 2 sister clubs in Brighton Pussycat and Top Totty have also been running very successful table dance schools {see the newly revamped
www.pussycatclub.co.uk }at weekends.
Top Hollywood star Christian Slater hit the news in the UK by spending £8,000 on a night at the Sophisticat´s club in London. Talking of celebrity customers film Director Spike Lee was seen in Spearmint Rhino´s TCR club after a recent London film premiere.
Top photographer Richard Heeps had an exhibition of photos taken at the Whoopee club featuring the likes of Imodesty Blaize called “Burlesque” in the West End during the month { see www.richardheeps.co.uk for samples }. Talking of post modern burlesque type shows a new weekly one called “Club Noir” has opened in the Carling Academy in Glasgow.
Yorkshire based chain Purple Door which already has clubs in Leeds and Doncaster opened a 3rd one in Hull in George Street on July 7th . That makes 4 clubs now in that town { The Office, Shapes, Zebra being the others }.The small chain of Privilege clubs {Newcastle and Scarborough} now have a web site www.privilegetabledancing.com
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A new club called Fallen Angels has opened in Albert Road, Blackpool in the original Too Hot to Handle location. At the same time the council turned down an application to convert the Route 9 snooker hall into a full nude club partly backed by the owner of Preston´s Perfect 10. Given the stated intention to open several large casino hotels in the next few years in that town I would expect several more to open in the next few years though the topless only rules may put some off.
The Fantasy Palace in Edinburgh now has a web site {see www.fantasy-palace.co.uk }. A new strip pub called the Giles Tavern in Queen Street, Ipwich now has girls on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening despite opposition from the local council. Another pub offering strip on certain sessions is the Red Hart in the small village of Tarvin, Cheshire, let´s hope this is the start of a trend.
The smart Wildcat club of Wakefield is up for sale which is slightly surprising as it only opened in March this year. The sale is being handled by Christie´s of Leeds {tel 0113 389 2700}
The Matrix club, Ripley´s first finally opened it´s doors for business in July. The Nottingham private members club Hideout has been renamed ” The Bar Lane Club” and is due to open soon in the Basford area. Urban Tiger Northampton´s club is now scheduled to re-open full time on August 2nd after March´s fire, the new place will feature much more elaborate stage shows than before.
Great Yarmouth which has had a club called Angels for the last 3 years is to have a second called “The Gari”{ see www.thegari.com } opening soon plus another club called Atlantis is to put on occasional male strip shows during the summer season. The Manchester private members club Xanadu which started lap dancing a couple of months ago now has a web site www.xanadu.co.uk . Birmingham club Sensations has had a revamp and a new web sitewww.newsensationsclub.com .
Correction to last month´s column, the Lapland UK {see www.LaplandUK.com} agency is actually based in Birmingham. It seems that the venerable nationwide Yates Wine Lodge chain is putting poles in some of it´s establishments but for customers use only at this point.
A new club called Le Club Paradis opened in Galway in May and I hear a 2nd branch has just opened in Dublin in the Temple Bar area of town very close to Lapello. This represents Dublin´s 5th club. The former manager of Dublin´s String´s club {which closed anyway last year} Mary Cullen was in court on tax charges and released on Eu 100,000 bail pending a trial.
Tyke
Author: Saxon
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