Outrage over lap dancing plans in place of church in Cheshire

 A Macclesfield nightclub revealed its plans to bring lap dancing to the town centre in place of a former church mission. The plans have caused outrage as the local public fear that the new activities will bring disaster to the town’s life.

A Macclesfield nightclub revealed its plans to bring lap dancing to the town centre in place of a former church mission. The plans have caused outrage as the local public fear that the new activities will bring disaster to the town’s life.

The current owners of Repent on Mill Street, a former church mission and Quaker meeting house dating back more than 100 years, want to open the new members-only club by Christmas. The place has been the base for both Macclesfield Quakers and the Macclesfield Town Mission, before becoming Preachers in the 1990s and then Repent last year.

Those who object to the lap dancing plans have to lodge any concerns with Cheshire East Council by 9 December 2009. No objections had been received so far.

Co-owner of the club Laura Hatton-Garside, who with husband Roy submitted the application for a change of licence on 10 November 2009, said:

‘This venture will be a members-only club and because of its location the inside of the club will not be visible to the public.’

She said they hoped to attract male and female members and that music would remain ‘an integral part of the club’, Macclesfield Express reported.

The report says that under the new plans the two sections of the club, which has a licence to stay open until 4am, will be separated from each other. The site is close to Macclesfield Bus Station and currently stays open until 2am on a Sunday.

David Neilson, Macclesfield town councillor, said:

‘Considering the history of the building, which used to be a Quaker meeting house and the town mission, I think it’s an inappropriate use. I think many people would be very, very distressed to see it become this.

‘Call me old-fashioned but that is not the place for it,’ he added.

Stephen Broadhurst, Mr Neilson’s colleague for town centre activities, also fears that mixing alcohol and lap dancing could be a ‘recipe for disaster’.

'I think it’s got to be very carefully run and disciplined. I’m not sure whether it fits in in Macclesfield. On the other hand, if there’s a demand for it then there’s a supply for it,' he said earlier this week.

But Mandy Fazelynia, owner of Fina Bar and Grill in the Market Place and a member of Macclesfield Chamber of Trade, says she does not believe a lap dancing club will attract problems. She said:

‘I think we’re absolutely desperate for some more adult venues, not just bars for the under 20s. But I am not sure this quite fits the bill!?’

Lap-dance clubs in Britain have come under local authority and police scrutiny, and attracted widespread opposition. Police forces have conducted a number of investigations into misconduct and criminal activity within lap-dancing clubs during the last 10 years. The clubs raised serious issues related to the sex industry’s links to organised crime and criminality, a front for prostitution, inadequate licensing laws, and neighbourhood disruption.

Research suggests that the vast majority of people say they would rather not work or live in an area near a lap-dancing club.

In March 2002, a report by the Lillith Project (Environmental Health Department), which focused on seven lap-dance clubs in the London borough of Camden, concluded that the existence of lap-dancing clubs has a negative effect on the community, that areas where lap-dance clubs operate have become ‘no-go’ for women who feel uncomfortable walking by, and that men have been harassed by personnel offering them sexual services.

In 1997, three Lithuanian women were deported after being trafficked into the UK to work in an Edinburgh lap-dancing club.

In the same year, the owner of Scotland's first lap-dancing club, The Fantasy Bar, was charged with rape, brothel keeping and living off illegal earnings.

In 2004, police officers investigated a Birmingham lap-dance club after it was discovered that a 15-year-old girl was working at Spearmint Rhino Extreme.

In December 2007, residents in Durham challenged a decision to grant a licence for a lap dancing club in the city. Kirsty Thomas and Dr Desmond Evans along with many others launched a successful appeal against a decision made by Durham City Council in August 2007 on the basis that the lap dancing club would fail to promote public safety, add to the already high levels of nuisance and disorder along North Road, and harm children both morally and psychologically.

(See the Christian Legal Centre report)

A Cheshire East spokesman confirmed consultation in relation to the Macclesfield nightclub would end on 9 December 2009 and said the licence change might need to go before a CEC licensing committee if objections were lodged.