Smoke ban forces pubs to strippers
More pubs are resorting to strippers and exotic dance nights to pull in badly-needed trade as the economy worsens and the smoking ban begins to bite.
Striptease and entertainment agencies say enquiries from pubs and clubs have significantly increased over the past six months.
One pub, the Sir Robert Peel in Kingston, Surrey, now runs stripper sessions seven nights a week, with up to three cabaret spots each day.
Before we would have between 10 and 15 customers in here on a Monday, but now we are getting up to 50
Peter Hampton
Crown, Knaphill
Another pub, the Crown at Knaphill, near Woking, Surrey, launched Monday and Wednesday night sessions earlier this year after the smoking ban came into force.
Dawn Pugsley, from Angels Exotic in Windsor, Berkshire, said hard-pressed hosts were turning to strippers to entice drinkers through the door.
“We are getting a lot more enquiries from pubs and the numbers have risen sharply over the past few months or so. Licensees are telling me they are being forced to look at alternative forms of entertainment because they are struggling so badly,” she said.
“More licensees are looking at these sort of nights, especially since the smoking ban began to hit trade.”
Pubs advertising on the agency’s website say there is no entry fee and no increase in bar prices on striptease nights, although customers are invited to donate £1 each to a “jug collection” after each session.
Crown manager Peter Hampton said business brought in by the strip shows had balanced smoking ban losses. “We are a beer pub and 95% of our regulars are smokers, so the ban hit us badly when it first came in,” he said.
“We started the shows a fortnight after the ban started and it’s definitely worked for us. Before we would have between 10 and 15 customers in here on a Monday, but now we are getting up to 50 people in the bar.”
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