Lap dancing club takes licence veto to High Court (From Oxford Mail)
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Lap dancing club takes licence veto to High Court
9:00am Thursday 17th March 2011 in News By Chris Buratta
Lodge Lap dancing club owners Caz Carrington and Al Thompson with dancers Sasha, left, and Jody
DEFIANT lap dancing club bosses last night revealed they are taking the fight over the loss of their licence to the very top.
Managers at The Lodge, in Oxford city centre, yesterday signed off legal documents which will see their case taken to the High Court.
Furious campaigners hit out at the decision and warned it could open the door for other lap dancing clubs in the city.
The club, in Pennyfarthing Place, off St Ebbe’s Street, was refused a sexual entertainment venue licence by Oxford City Council last month.
But yesterday its owners said they would fight on, battling opposition from neighbours, councillors and equality campaigners.
Last night club owner Al Thompson said the venue had a good case.
He told the Oxford Mail: “We instructed a legal team.
“We are going to fight this but it is not a cheap process.”
Mr Thompson said staff could lose their jobs if lap dancing did not continue at the club.
He said: “This is not just about lap dancing, this affects a lot of people, it is how we make our living.”
But Hannah Clare, who led a protest against lap dancing clubs in Oxford earlier this month, said she hoped any High Court review upheld the council’s decision.
Miss Clare, who works at the Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre, added: “The worry would be the decision could impact on future applications for these kind of places.
“This is part of an industry that objectifies women’s bodies.”
The council originally granted a variation to the licence for The Lodge in December 2009, to allow lap dancing, and at the time said it had no grounds to refuse it.
But, under new powers adopted by the authority in June last year, lap dancing clubs can now be refused if they are in residential areas, close to schools or play areas, near shopping centres or tourist hot spots or close to churches and other places of worship.
Under the revised Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act, the lap dancing club needed a sexual entertainment venue licence and the council refused The Lodge’s application at a hearing in February.
It was refused “on the grounds that a sexual entertainment venue at the premises would be inappropriate, having regard to the character of the relevant locality and the use to which other premises in the vicinity are put”.
Under the Act, the only challenge available to the club’s owners is to seek a judicial review in the High Court.
Tony Payne, licensing and development manager at Oxford City Council, said the authority was not in a position to comment at this stage.
He added: “They have made us aware of their intention to seek a judicial review.”
The neighbouring St Ebbe’s Church fought and lost a court appeal against the club’s licence last summer.
Earlier this month the Rev Vaughan Roberts, of the church, backed the council’s decision and said he did not believe lap dancing clubs should continue to have a base in the centre of Oxford.
Comments(17)
elperrohavuelto
says...
10:58am Thu 17 Mar 11
The club is not ‘illegal’ and the women not only choose to work there, they enjoy it. The punters do not cause excessive (if any) trouble in or around the venue, the location is fairly hidden, and they have no adult public advertising.
Why don’t the narrow-minded individuals kicking up such a stink put more effort into shutting down the illegal brothels around the city, where you can pretty much guarantee the women ‘on offer’ are being forced to work, or working due to drug or alcohol addictions. It’s not hard to find them, just pick up any local free paper……. so much wasted time and money focusing on a legitimate club when there are genuine women suffering, pathetic.
Oxford taxpayer
says...
12:31pm Thu 17 Mar 11
Lord Palmerstone
says...
12:34pm Thu 17 Mar 11
This is Carnal Ah Hen who escaped from the Way of the World column in the Daily Telegraph just before it shut down. No one else has ever talked in such a peculiar way.
sparky123456
says...
2:27pm Thu 17 Mar 11
wonder if Hannah Clare read the story about the poor girl who was raped in Church Cowley?? Maybe she should focus her attentions on having the Templars Square shopping centre shut down or something?? seems deadly around those streets. Now can anyone point me to the statistics that show the last rape case directly related to a licensed strip bar?
LoveOxford
says...
3:30pm Thu 17 Mar 11
medicine man
says...
3:35pm Thu 17 Mar 11
LoveOxford
says...
4:07pm Thu 17 Mar 11
sparky123456 wrote:Umm yes, Just down the road in Henley last November! Im sure the girls at the lodge will be fine though - given the photo above..
good luck to them! wonder if Hannah Clare read the story about the poor girl who was raped in Church Cowley?? Maybe she should focus her attentions on having the Templars Square shopping centre shut down or something?? seems deadly around those streets. Now can anyone point me to the statistics that show the last rape case directly related to a licensed strip bar?
http://www.henleysta
ndard.co.uk/news/new
s.php?tabp=y&id=8362
02
mandate
says...
5:28pm Thu 17 Mar 11
I've seen better looking mares at the races.
Mr Peter Mcvay
says...
6:26pm Thu 17 Mar 11
LoveOxford
says...
9:39am Fri 18 Mar 11
My opinion:
Close the clubs
Move the brothels out of town to somewhere like an industrial estate so it gets them out of the neighbourhoods
Legalise Prostitution and get Tax from that.
Use the tax to save all of the services we are seeing dissappear at the moment.
philg
says...
10:22am Fri 18 Mar 11
Perhaps in the interests of equal opportunities, they could have a section containing some male erotic dancers also.
sparky123456
says...
3:26pm Fri 18 Mar 11
LoveOxford wrote:well up until not too long ago you wouldn't find women working in many environments and as they say the sex trade is the worlds oldest! you can't have sexual equality then wander around trying to talk for everyone. I don't have a daughter and im in my late twenties. I have visited this club with colleagues and have been to other similar clubs on stag do's etc the girls aren't objectified. They know full well they can make £300+ per night by dancing, whereas Sainsburys would pay them about £5.80p/h. Most of these girls will probably model for car mags, lads mags, **** mags, attend promo events. So you're basically saying that as males if we see women in underwear or semi nude we can't control a desire to rape?? I think you should leave oxford and possibly head to saudi, sounds like the dress code there will be more to your liking?!
I have to disagree here, I dont think its right that these clubs are getting intergrated into our neighbourhoods. Im a female in my early 20's Ive struggled to work hard to get where I am, I dont think its right for these girls to consider this sort of thing as a job as an alternative to working at Sainsburys, They do not provide a service to these men that go here - Brothels provide a service, clubs if anything will only cause more frustration to men, especially if they are having to part with lots of money. I wonder if all the people who comment on here have daughters - Would they be ok with them working in these jobs? Because once one gets in - then you will have 10, If a man is inside a strip clud and he leaves the club and see girls walking past on a night out in short skirts etc - has the fact he just came from the club make them safer?!!! My opinion: Close the clubs Move the brothels out of town to somewhere like an industrial estate so it gets them out of the neighbourhoods Legalise Prostitution and get Tax from that. Use the tax to save all of the services we are seeing dissappear at the moment.
sparky123456
says...
3:28pm Fri 18 Mar 11
LoveOxford wrote:ya got me BUT....
sparky123456 wrote: good luck to them! wonder if Hannah Clare read the story about the poor girl who was raped in Church Cowley?? Maybe she should focus her attentions on having the Templars Square shopping centre shut down or something?? seems deadly around those streets. Now can anyone point me to the statistics that show the last rape case directly related to a licensed strip bar?Umm yes, Just down the road in Henley last November! Im sure the girls at the lodge will be fine though - given the photo above.. http://www.henleysta ndard.co.uk/news/new s.php?tabp=y&id=
8362 02
lets wait for the outcome of that, was it in the club or in the car park and unrelated? has anyone actually been prosecuted? aside from that take the case of the Lodge, no related or reported cases of rape, violence or anything. Now take central Oxford theres countless violent crimes, a couple of murders and a few rapes in the last 12 months alone!! Take that nationally and you'll find it repeats across every town. Are nudie girls bad or is alcohol worse?
mandate
says...
7:31pm Fri 18 Mar 11
Regardless of what your moral standpoint is on this matter, the choice must be upto every individual.
I personally would'nt be seen dead in such a place as The Lodge. But I don't see any reason to close the place, just because it's not the kind of place I want to go to.
As far as I know the girls are'nt sexually stimulating their customers, so no law is being broken.
Some women like to go and watch male strippers perform, some men like to go and see lapdancing.
Should we close all venues that cater for this type of entertainment, just because certain individuals don't approve?
JanetJ
says...
10:05pm Fri 18 Mar 11
philg wrote:Well - they could but would anyone actually pay to watch male erotic dancers?? even if very drunk!
“This is part of an industry that objectifies women’s bodies.” Perhaps in the interests of equal opportunities, they could have a section containing some male erotic dancers also.
Mr Peter Mcvay
says...
2:08am Sat 19 Mar 11
JanetJ wrote:Actually yes, as the millions who have sold out countless world tours by The Chippendales will testify.
philg wrote:Well - they could but would anyone actually pay to watch male erotic dancers?? even if very drunk!
“This is part of an industry that objectifies women’s bodies.” Perhaps in the interests of equal opportunities, they could have a section containing some male erotic dancers also.
Niko Bellic says...
10:04am Thu 17 Mar 11
.
In came the Thirst Lodge, the antisocial problems stopped, perhaps because the blokes inside have spent all of their money on boobies and dont have any left for drinking, or perhaps because its a nice evening out and people in a good mood are less likely to fight.
.
If you walk past the place you cannot see what is on the inside either, its not like naked breasts are littering the street!
.
And in response to Miss Clare's comment. It is very easy for those not associated with the sex industry to claim that it objectifies people, but in reality, unless you are doing it, you are in no position to make that statement. If anything it objectifies the wallets of the men (and women) who visit the place.