strip clubs

Strip clubs across England and Wales face closure thanks to changes in licensing rules, reversing a previous boom. How did the explosion in lap dancing change the country?

You recognise them by their names - broad, unsubtle allusions to sex and glamour like Secrets or Medusa or Platinum Lace.

At one time, the entertainment they offer would have been confined to back alleys.

Yet at present, for good or ill, lap dancing has colonised the British High Street.

Within recent memory, British venues offering the spectacle of women publicly undressing for male edification typically were either less-than-salubrious pubs or working men's clubs or found amid the red lights of London's Soho.

But the past decade has witnessed the rise of the "gentleman's club", frequented by City bankers and Premiership footballers, their "VIP rooms" replete with expensive champagne.

New planning rules mean their rise could be curtailed, however. To critics, they are, beneath the respectable veneer, no more than seedy outposts of the sex industry which make communities feel unsafe and commercialise the exploitation of women.

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There was a complete normalisation of part of the sex industry”

Jennifer Hayashi Danns
Author and former lap dancer
Their advocates insist they are safe, clean, professionally run businesses which answer a market demand and offer performers the opportunity to earn big money.

Few would dispute, though, the impression they have left on British society. Between 2004 and 2008 their number doubled to 300.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16869029

is this a good thing or bad,
at least we knew where all the activity was happening,and will the closures result in more girls doing it in back alleys?

I tend to think there's always an over-reaction about stuff like this. In my opinion its a case of supply and demand. As long as there's a demand for this kind of establishment, there will be people who will provide it. If they put a ban on them they will only succeed in sending them underground and into back streets and cellars and shady places. Surely its better if they're out there on the main streets and they're well run, looking after the girls they employ. I would assume since they're legitimate businesses, that there are regulations that have to be followed and that their employees are protected to an extent. That's got to be a better option than having them working in illegal dives.

agree with you entirely mazzie. anyway what harm do they do.
in the open and legal, their paying rates n taxes ... (supply n demand.)
yep, so long as there s a demand ,there ll always be a supply.