Problems at SFI Plc the parent company of For Your Eyes Only { FYEO} were reported in this column over a year ago and the group has been effectively run by the banks ever since. This has stalled FYEO´s previously ambitious expansion plans but the situation finally seems to be resolving itself. I have heard that 4 FYEO clubs { Park Royal, Bournemouth, Newcastle, and the soon to be opened Croydon club} are to be sold off to a Newcastle based leisure group which will retain the name and is looking to restart the expansion process with the aim of creating a national chain of 15 or so clubs. The Southampton and Mayfair clubs are to be sold off separately and so will presumably have to change names.
I have also heard a rumour that the proposed Spearmint Rhino Vauxhall club which got a licence but was never opened as the group´s problems derailed the expansion phase is to open as a {non SR} table dancing club after all.
The unconventional handling of the management cull reported in August´s column at Spearmint Rhino seems to have created yet more problems for that group´s troubled UK operation. Firstly SR were being taken to an industrial tribunal by a former employee called Johnny Singh who was fired after working at the Colnbrook and Uxbridge branches for 2 and a half years. He was claiming unfair dismissal and that SR regularly used to turn a blind eye to drugs and prostitution, also that his manager threatened to plant drugs on him if he did not agree to go quietly { he had this on tape}. This rather non procedural method of dismissal seems to have resulted in an out of court settlement of circa £30,000 to Singh by SR. Singh also sold his story to the Sunday Mirror claiming {rather dubiously if you ask me} that he had actually been fired for trying to stop illegal goings on {after 2 and a half years ?} within the club. In a 2nd case in September Lee Freer {also from the ill fated Uxbridge club} was making similar claims and reportedly wanted £100,000 to settle.
While the UK expansion at SR seems to be on hold at present the UK office is managing a major push into Europe which currently includes a club soon to open in Vienna and another in Prague which will have an on site casino.
While on the subject of Sunday paper stories regular Promises dancer Morgan Tyler sold a story to the People about her 2 year relationship with Richard Travis { owner of Bada Bing and boyfriend at the same time of TV and stage star Denise Van Outen}.
Top model and London strip scene regular Sammy Jessop has just got married.
While DeJaVu´s attempts to buy the Windmill seem to have failed they are apparently still committed to expansion in the UK starting with London and are actively looking for both staff and premises.
The Platinum Bar in Paul Street E1 re-opened with girls late in September with what appears to be a completely new management team. I hope this is not yet another short lived effort { like Bar 108 or the Russian bar} as in it´s previous incarnation it provided an interesting alternative to most of the other places in London.
While the number of strip pubs in Hackney still seems to be in decline further out from the capital there are more promising signs. First a new Alastair Watts operated strip pub opened in mid September in the Luton area. It´s called Vixens at the Speed the Plough in Barton Le Clay on the A6 and is to operate 7 days a week from late afternoon until closing time. Another new opening during the month was the Famous Red Lion at 34, Kilburn High Rd which is an Entertease venue and will have girls on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from around 4 until 8.
Bar Provoke in Cranbrook Rd Ilford has responded to the start of the new football season by running shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoon which includes both striptease and all the live TV football in full. The bar has a full Sky package and plasma screen TVs and the girls are Rainbow supplied so it sounds like the recipe for a good all round afternoon´s entertainment to me. I am rather surprised that other bar owners throughout the country have not tried something similar, if only somebody would do the same for Rugby Union internationals in Yorkshire my cup would truly runneth over.
Talking of football Scottish 2nd division side Airdrie´s main sponsor for the vnew season is local lap dancing bar Seventh Heaven.
I understand that the Hackney Rd club Images was raided during the month and that some sort of court case based on license breaches may be in the offing.
The very long established {over 40 years} Sunset Strip in Dean street Soho has now a new web site
{ www.sunset-strip.co.uk } and has also apparently been refurbished. Also the Promises venue in Aylesbury M and A now also has a new site {www.mnas.co.uk } as has as Watford´s Club Composure {www.clubcomposure.com }
More lap/pole dancing schools are springing up across the country. In Birmingham Laptastic { www.laptastic.co.uk } has started regular courses and in London Stilettos { e-mail [email protected] } has also started training courses. Stiletto has been in operation for a year now and also supplies male and female strippers and models to a range of UK clubs. Both agencies also supply girls both in the UK and overseas. Also in London there is another new class operating { see www.jumpanddance.com } twice a week at the more mainstream Basement Dance Studio in Camden Town. A comprehensive list of UK classes and contact numbers etc can be found on the excellent www.mypole.co.ukweb site .
It seems that Birmingham´s Legs 11 { see www.legseleven.net } one of the UK´s first clubs is to open a 2nd branch in Broad Street , Birmingham.
Aberdeen which already has several lap dancing clubs has a new one called Aristokats due to open in the next few weeks after receiving license approval from the council. In Dudley however the Millers bar has had permission for striptease turned down by the council and is apparently going to operate as a bar with topless barmaids while it considers it´s next move.
Tyke
Author: Saxon
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