One of the comments John Gray of Spearmint made to me about the UK was that he could not understand the hostility there was between rival club owners when in the US they mainly all got on. It used to be that Browns/Griffin and the White Horse in Shoreditch were an exception to this and girls were free to dance at both places. This apparently however is to end in September as Browns is changing it´s method of operation and has banned it´s girls from also working at the WH {or indeed anywhere else}. This is to coincide with the extension of opening hours mentioned last month, lets hope there are no other changes.
Talking of the White Horse I took the opportunity to photograph the very smart new stage/DJs area when last down in the area {below}. Competition in that part of the world still seems to be increasing with Metropolis having acquired a van which acts as a mobile billboard and also a promotional system to get cab drivers to drop off there.
I read that a VAT tribunal in July decided that VAT should be charged on the full price of “tipping dollars” in clubs {ie £3.50 for a typical London £20 dance}. Currently there is often a surcharge made by the house and a discount on the amount actually received by the girl so a £20 dance will cost say £24 of which the girl gets £16! If VAT is added into that equation it will all become rather complex. This if enforced nationally could result in changes of the operation of many clubs and maybe a move to even bigger fixed house fees.
It seems that Soho´s trendy Kabaret Club is currently recruiting table dancers for certain nights of the week. I understand also that the White Horse, High Wycombe has changed hands and from September onwards it will also have girls on every Tuesday lunchtime {making all week Monday to Saturday now} plus on every 2nd Sunday a new show to be called ” Sunday Skool” is to be introduced. There is also talk of featuring striptease on some evenings in future.
The FYEO chain´s expansion is continuing at a rapid pace. I heard late in July that they have acquired Munroe´s club in Bradford which will be re-branded as FYEO in the next few months and that they have acquired a new premises by the quayside to return to Southampton where their previous club was sold in 2003 and renamed “Tusk”. The Glasgow club mentioned in last month´s column is to be in the basement of a brand new Radisson Hotel and will be the biggest and smartest club in that city. By the end of the year they hope to have 8 100% owned clubs open which is one more than Spearmint and would make them the largest operator in the UK.
Talking of Southampton´s Tusk it now has a web site www.tuskclub.com and also like so many clubs these days offers pole dancing lessons.
Not part of the chain now is FYEO Mayfair which stayed with SFI after the sale of the group although a limited management relationship remains. The very long winded acquisition of this site by DeJaVu of the US now looks as though it will actually take place again.
A new pole dancing magazine has been launched called ” Master Poledancer “, it has a web site misspoledancer.com and the person behind it is Bethanie Dee Chalker ex dancer and more recently operating a pole dance school. Lets hope this one appears a bit more reliably than Pole Position!
Following on from Purple Door opening it´s 3rd club in Hull last week it seems that Blue Leopard which already has clubs in Leeds and Liverpool is to open a 3rd club on the Headway in Leeds to be called Red Leopard.
As usual several applications have been made by various individuals for clubs and rumours abound in many places. New as yet unnamed clubs have made applications to open in Mansfield and Reading and I also hear an ex Spearmint manager is opening the 10th club in the centre of Birmingham in September to be called the ” Medusa Gentleman´s Club”. Up in Lancaster there is a rumour that David Sullivan of the Sunday Sport and Birmingham City football club fame is looking to convert the empty Warner Cineplex there into a German style sex emporium with a shop, several sex cinema screens, and a lap dancing bar.
Talking of Spearmint in Birmingham the very large Extreme club there has started having regular photographic afternoons with top models.
Out west Bristol´s Central Chambers club has new ownership though at least for the moment the management and style of operation has not changed. I also hear that the Gentleman´s Club chain {which already has 2 clubs in South Wales} has acquired the former Sedan Chair bar and is in the process of converting it for lap dancing. Also Bristol is to have a first male lap dancing bar aimed at gays also not named yet.
Northampton´s Urban Tiger re-opened after the fire
A club called Cave based next door to the railway station in Chelmsford, Essex started up on the 12th of August with topless pole dancing and regular mud wrestling sessions {which as far as I know will be a UK first} on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening, girls are from the Promises agency. August also saw the re-opening of Urban Tiger in Northampton and the opening of “Flirtz” the small seaside resort of Skegness´s first club. I understand that Wakefield club Wildcat is no longer for sale and that the owner Matthew Haycocks is looking for expansion again. It seems that Glasgow´s Truffle Club the first lap dancing establishment in the city is applying to become a casino and if successful will stop using dancers.
Another month, another group of new agencies one called Flashdancers has a web site flashdancers.co.uk . Another called Lady Marmalade based in Birmingham also has a site ladymarmalade.co.uk Following on from the success of the Whoopee Club and others a new troupe of Burlesque type dancers has been formed in Birmingham called Femme Fatale {telephone 07812 082458}.
Birmingham´s Femme Fatale
The News of the World revealed that Merseyside WPC Destiny Hayes was forced to resign after her bosses discovered that she was moonlighting as a lap dancer in local clubs.
Destiny Hayes´s career move!
The complete waste of public money report by well known fem-nazi Julie Bindel for Glasgow council came to it´s predictable {girls being exploited, men want sex} conclusions. In North Wales a council is now seeking to ban limo strips on spurious safety grounds.
It seems Professor Steven Hawking has developed a taste for lap dance clubs, he was photographed in Stringfellow´s a few months ago and in August was spotted at the Angels club while visiting Dublin.
– Tyke
Author: Saxon
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