The very long awaited 5th Secrets club near St Katherine´s Dock has succeeded in getting a full nude license despite the opposition of Tower Hamlets council {seems rather odd given that there are already several full nude places in the borough}
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The judge ruled that full nude would be OK provided that a gap of 3ft {whatever happened to compulsory metrication?} was maintained. No doubt this idiotic rule will go eventually. The club itself finally opened on May 13th.The long established annual Sex Maniacs Ball has been renamed the “Night of the Senses” and is to take place on the 4th of September at the SeOne club at London Bridge {see www.erotic-awards.co.uk }. This event includes awards for stripper of the year {male and female}, erotic artist of the year etc. The female compare this year is to be Canadian Max { left} of Olympia Moments who was stripper of the year herself in 2002.
London´s private party scene, which had been booming for the past couple of years as a response to ever sillier rules in the licensed sector, has hit a major problem in finding venues since somebody in April decided to tell the various local councils what was going on. This has closed several well established venues and forced the various groups to move location and become even more secretive.
Spearmint Rhino has a new licensing supremo in the UK called Graham Melvin who is an ex senior Metropolitan Police Detective and will take over as licensee of the Tottenham Court Rd club which got it´s public entertainment license renewed without any problems at the start of the month.
There are rumours that the former music hall and currently Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill Gate may be turned into a lap dancing club and casino. May´s strip-magazine coverdancer Niki now has her own web sitewww.nikismith.co.uk . Niki has also secured the job of compare for the Max Power live shows at the end of June beginning of July. It also seems that the closure of the Bada Bing club in Holborn {in last month´s column} is permanent.
Lap dancing is becoming more and more mainstream and it has now emerged that several current female pop stars including Kerry Katona of Atomic Kitten and Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud have worked as lap dancers in the past. Also it seems that children´s TV presenter Danielle Nicholls is to do a nude pole dance for a new TV show called ” The Unprofessionals “.
News of another new home counties Promises venue called the Penthouse Club in Sun Street, Hitchin which now has girls on Wednesday nights. Talking of Promises they also won a court judgement against the Abingdon Town football cub for non payment of fees in May.
The first club in tiny Skegness called Flirtz { see www.flirtzclub.co.uk} opened in May despite initial council opposition, as did the 2nd Lincoln club Could 9 { see www.cloud9lincoln.co.uk }. In Plymouth the first club Temptations is on the market as reported last month with the owner already having permission to open his and Plymouth´s 2nd club called T2 in the centre of town in Union St. There is now to be a 3rd club called Teasers {the initial T obviously very popular out West !} also in Union St which has planning approval and hopes to open in June after refurbishments.
While out in the West of England the 2 clubs mentioned in March´s column in Bridgewater Somerset Silhouette´s and the Palace club both received council approval late in April and should be opening for business in the summer.
An application has also been made for a nude license by a 2nd Newquay club called ” Tall Trees”. A new club as yet unnamed is opening in Nottingham, further details when I get them. I understand that High Society in Stockport has had to close down {hopefully temporarily} due to insurance problems after the shooting incident. I also hear that Northampton´s Urban Tiger is hoping to re-open in June refurbished after the fire.
Out in Wales news of an amateur lap dancing competition being run from the Claude Hotel in Cardiff, starting on the 3rd of June with the finals on the 24th of June. There are cash prizes but it´s main purpose is to raise money for breast cancer research, anybody interested should call 02920 493396.
Glasgow seems to be determined to overtake Nottingham and Manchester in the stakes for the UK´s most stupidly prudish city. As well as the pointless biased study to find bad news on clubs announced last month it has been lobbying the Scottish Parliament { an august body mainly famous for wasting hundreds of £m on their new building}
to allow them the authority to close down the City´s current 4 clubs on moral grounds. Nothing daunted a 5th club is being proposed by Ricardo Patrick ex singer with 1970s soul band the Sweet Inspirations near the Mas {itself subject to a separate application to become a lap dancing club called Privilege} night club in the city centre.
In Edinburgh attempts to prevent pubs starting up with striptease without a council license have failed. The council has been advised by the Scottish Executive that the proposed changes to licensing laws will not give them any more power in this area and it´s sent the council into a frenzy of impotent rage! Edinburgh´s 9 clubs and pubs seem safe for the moment.
The May bank holiday weekend saw the opening of a new club the “Garden of Eden ” in Dublin and I attended on the very busy opening night. The clubs in Dublin have had a rather dubious reputation since the first one opened in 2000 and 2003 saw considerable police activity and the closure of several clubs reducing the peak of 8 to just 3 before this new one opened
. Garden of Eden {Eden Quay right on the O´Connell Street Bridge slap in the centre of town} is currently the largest club, operating on 3 floors, and has set it´s store to avoid some of the mistakes of previous operators. One important thing that has changed is the EU enlargement as of 1st May making the girls of several old Eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic legally entitled to work there in the future. I intend to include more coverage of the Irish scene in this column from now on.
Tyke
Author: Saxon
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