Strip club "doesn't support" family friendly town centre (From Watford Observer)

Strip club Vogue "doesn't support" plans to turn Watford into a family friendly town centre, councillors said.

5:20pm Tuesday 8th September 2009 in News By Michael Pickard

Vogue, in The Parade, Watford, won permission to offer customers striptease and lap dancing at a hearing on Friday.

A nightclub in Watford won permission to offer customers “striptease and lap dancing”, despite a council's aspirations to create a “family friendly town centre”.

Members of Watford Borough Council said the decision to grant Vogue permission to host adult entertainment felt “like wearing handcuffs”, tied by the Licensing Act 2003, after a hearing at the Town Hall on Friday.

Under the law, applications can only be rejected if they are judged to be in violation of four “licensing objectives”. These are the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.

But despite representations from a local resident, and letters against the application (many of which were rejected because they were considered to contain morale objections), the licensing sub-committee granted permission for the venue to offer “striptease, lap dancing and other activities of a like kind”.

Speaking against the application, Neil Fitton, of Elm Court, said: “Because of the large number of people who already visit Watford to various other establishments, I think this will cause additional visitors in an overcrowded area where it could give rise to alcohol-related violence.

“Due to the nature of activities, it could also give rise to intimidation and harassment of other females that are out in town.”

However, Julian Skeens, representing Opal Leisure and Neil Campbell, owner of Vogue, offered to reduce the venue's maximum capacity to 150 people from 240, and said it “would not be a place where people get drunk”, referring to its minimum pricing policy for alcohol, where a beer costs £4.

Mr Skeens said: “We don't want to encourage inappropriate sex attacks but all the evidence is lap-dancing clubs reduce crime and disorder in the area.”

Mr Skeens revealed that at the venue, all patrons will be seated at all times, with waiter service at the bar. There will also be private dancing booths and a VIP area with a dancing pole, alongside the main stage.

He added: “We should not shy away from the fact the whole idea of this premises is titilation and not the kind of entertainment we want children exposed to. But what is quite clear is we already have a lap dancing in Watford and I'm not aware of any difficulties with that premises.”

Chairman George Derbyshire, who formed the committee alongside councillors Kareen Hastrick and Andrew Mortimer, said: “The committee concluded that the objections of interested parties couldn't be sustained with reference to the four licensing objectives.

“However, the committee feels that a sex establishment of this nature is not supportive of the council's policy for creating a family friendly town centre and regrets the lack of discretion available to it when considering applications of this nature.”

Conditions were imposed on the licence. These include those contained in the premises' operating schedule; a code of conduct for dancers drawn up by the venue; that the licensee shall not allow distribution of flyers containing photos or other images which suggest that strip tease or similar entertainment takes place on the premises and which may be offensive; and the maximum capacity of the premises shall be limited to 150 whilst adult dancing is taking place.

Following the decision, Mr Campbell told the Watford Observer: “The conditions were our suggestion and I'm quite happy to have them on there. We are the only licence in Hertfordshire to have a minimum [drink] pricing policy.

“We're grateful to the council for granting the licence. We know they're not overly happy about it but we hope in time they will think it was a good idea.”