Pub’s ‘topless’ plan hit by council rules

Paul McMullan, of the Castle Inn in Dover, put in a request to Dover District Council who ruled that too much movement from his employees may breach “performance of dance” licensing rules.

McMullan has since agreed in principle to alter the “topless specials” on a Friday and Saturday night at his pub to Bikini Beach nights, but he feels aggrieved at losing a potential business opportunity.

McMullan told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser: “I just want to attract a bit of business really. We had a change of barstaff because we previously had a female bar manager who did not like girls serving behind the bar. We decided to change that and now all our barstaff are female.

“There are currently no lap-dancing bars in Dover, and the nearest one is in Margate [over 20 miles away]. I do not have the right to allow dancing under my premises licence so I can have bands play, but if one of my staff does a little dance I get charged each time.”

An adult entertainment venue licence issued by Dover District Council costs £2,100 for the application and £3,000 a year thereafter. This permits the performance of lap and pole dancing, in addition to other topless entertainment.
McMullan said that he could hold 11 one-off ‘adult entertainment’ events at a charge of £21 per event, before he would have to pay the licence fee.

“We could probably afford to pay the licence, but we wanted to advertise heavily for the topless events,” said McMullan.

He added: “The council never give anything back. We are in the middle of the development zone and do not even have street lights at the moment.”

Dover District Council were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.