Lap dancing crackdown sets 'worrying precedent'

New curbs on lap dancing venues set a "worrying precedent" for the whole licensed trade.

That warning comes from Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers chief executive Nick Bish, who fears the restrictions could represent the thin end of the wedge as politicians move away from flexible licensing.

Meanwhile, the Lap Dancing Association (LDA) has promised to fight the restrictions - and says it's prepared to go to court on human rights grounds if necessary.

Under current Government plans announced today, from 6 April residents would be able to oppose applications for lap dancing clubs if they think it's inappropriate for their neighbourhood.

Councils would also be able to require all lap dancing venues, including existing ones, apply for a new sex establishment licence from that date.

Bish said: "This new piece of legislation is a prime example of unnecessary legislative creep.

"It undermines the principles of the Licensing Act - one tailor-made licence for the premises rather than multiple permissions - and it sets a worrying precedent for how other segments of the hospitality industry could be treated.

"As a sector, we must resist government attempts to differentiate the market and segment it according to different styles of operation. It is a slippery slope from a licence for lap dancing to a licence for late night operators - a 3am curfew to a return to permitted hours.

"We are one hospitality industry, we must be united and stand together to resist moves of this nature - otherwise this will be the thin end of the wedge."

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, said: "If people don't want to have a sleazy lap dancing club in their neighbourhood, they shouldn't be forced to have one, which is why we're changing the law so local people can object and say 'we don't want this' in our area because it's a sex establishment."

Unnecessary piece of legislation​

LDA chairman Simon Warr said: "Today's announcement is not unexpected. The Government has been hell-bent on introducing this totally unnecessary piece of legislation for the past year and has paid little heed to the needs and concerns of the thousands of dancers, barstaff and others who work in the industry.

"What is a surprise is the petty narrow-minded and bigoted gloating from Harriet Harman.

"She has just castigated the 15,000 ordinary people — not to mention voters — who work in a legitimate and legal section of the entertainment industry as 'sleazy'.

"She is entitled to her opinion, but as a Minister of the Crown and a former lawyer she well knows that this type of subjective judgement has no place in objective policy making and certainly cannot be taken into account in individual licensing decisions.

"If local residents used her words in specific cases, they would soon find that they were inadmissible as evidence."

LDA spokeswoman Kate Nicholls said: "We are not going to lie down and accept this. We will continue to fight it and we will fight it all the way.

"If we can stop [the new powers coming in] we will try to do so. If we can't stop it we will lobby local authorities to make sure they use the new measures carefully."

Nicholls said they would be prepared to fight cases in the courts on human rights grounds if necessary.