Thousands have visited Acrrington lap dancing club, owners tell licensing panel (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Thousands have visited Acrrington lap dancing club, owners tell licensing panel

2:46pm Monday 12th November 2012 in News By Emma Cruces, Reporter

A LAP dancing club has applied for a renewal of its licence after bosses revealed thousands of customers had visited since it opened its doors.

The bid by icandy will be considered by Hyndburn Council's Licensing Comm-ittee, which will decide whether to renew, modify conditions of the licence or refuse the 12-month Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) licence next Tuesday.

The premises in Black-burn Road, Accrington, have operated as a lap dancing bar since July after the current SEV licence was granted in October 2011.

A report said the council had received no complaints and the police had not made any representations after consultations.

But two objections from the public have been lod-ged on the grounds of the suitability of the location and of the applicant to hold a licence.

The Rev Kevin Logan, who led a campaign against the venue, said: “This is the third objection we are making. If it still goes ahead after this, on their own head be it. People have largely given up making the point that it is the wrong place for a lap dancing club entirely. This is because people are not listening.”

A spokesman for the club said: “There has been no trouble and it has been run well. The police and licensing are happy and so are the customers. We have had around 3,500 people visit the club since we opened around three and a half months ago. We are pleased with business so far.”

The proposed opening hours are from 7pm to 1am Sunday to Thursday and 7pm to 3am on Friday and Saturday. Current con-ditions state that the interior of premises must not be visible to passers-by and contact between performers and customers is banned. CCTV monitors the prem-ises and police and council officials must be admitted at any given time.

In a report licensing manager Howard Bee said: “When reaching a decision on the application the committee should consider whether refusal of the licence is necessary and and proportionate for the pre-vention of disorder or crime or for the protection of health or morals and the rights and freedoms of others.”