Citizenn Smith speaks out

SO town councillors have called for a "morality code" following the bawdy goings-on at two clubs on Blackpool Promenade.

Do they honestly think that such a move will have the desired effect? Is Blackpool sleaze going to vanish like a stripper's G-string? Not on your Nelly.

The naked truth is that they had the opportunity to come down hard on the Boardwalk and the Palace and they bottled it.

The clubs, not surprisingly, announced that they had, of course, stopped the shows which they had been staging in the afternoons. And they were given a slap on the wrist by the Licensing committee and told not to do it again.

But I'm sure it was quite within the committee's jurisdiction to withdraw their entertainment licences. That would have been enough in all probability to have closed both establishments there and then.

But they dithered about that one. No doubt there were commercial thoughts hovering in the background. These are prominent entertainment centres operating on high-profile sites on the Promenade, no doubt paying enormous rates. And they have, after all, said that the shows are not being staged any more...

But what are we to make of this morality code? Well they're not going to stop strip shows from taking place for a start.

But they will have to be in the evening, strictly for over 18s and definitely no touchy touchy.

Coun Norman Hardy says: "We want a strategy prepared by our officers which will regulate what goes on at clubs. We want them to know in clear terms what we feel is or isn't acceptable."

So there you have it from the horse's mouth so to speak.

But it's all very well drawing up a code of conduct for such shows but a very different thing enforcing those rules.

Presumably council officers will have to monitor every club in town to make sure that they're toeing or breasting the line.

I can't help feeling that they would have been far better making an example of the Boardwalk and the Palace in the first place.

It would have sent out a clear message to the owners of such clubs that Blackpool doesn't want that kind of smut any more.