When Stringy’s spies17 worked undiecover...
more than half his rival’s dancers by the time his first club opened.
Within two years Gray claimed he was making €340,000 a week. His top dancers took home €230,000 a year.
Stringfellow, known for his love of leopard print and tiny thongs, admitted: “We were shell shocked. We’d had it all our own way for years.”
After his attempt to infiltrate Spearmint Rhino failed, Stringfellow and his cronies hit on another plan. They hired private detectives Sid Creasey and George Rickman to dig up dirt on the mysterious Gray.
Dirt was not hard to find. In 1995 he was given six months in jail for writing bad cheques for work done at a Spearmint Rhino club. And he had earlier ended up behind bars after making a false statement to win US Navy contracts.
UK authorities had no idea of Gray’s past, but he smiled away the scandal. Spearmint Rhino emerged unscathed, helped by nowdisgraced PR Max Clifford.
Desperate for ideas, the private detectives scoured licensing rules. They found that while naked girls were allowed, punters could only look, not touch.
On stage everything was by the book, but it seemed in the private booths neither dancers nor customers played by the rules.
The detectives took an infra-red camera to capture evidence. They were nearly exposed when a dancer saw the red light, but escaped by insisting it was a mobile phone. The pair returned with video said to show dancers pressing their breasts into men’s faces, rubbing against them, and even performing a sex act on a fake Nigerian prince. An investigation by the Met’s vice unit concluded that Gray’s club was one of “the biggest brothels in London” – and there were even reports of orgies in the private booths. Two undercover officers told magistrates they were offered sex in a private room at €570 for 30 minutes. Spearmint Rhino denied the claims, sacking two dancers who suggested they would have sex for money. But this time Gray found it more difficult to shrug off the dirt. There were protests outside his clubs nationwide.
Camden council revoked the strip joint’s entertainment licence, but it was overturned on appeal.
Once again, Stringfellow’s attempts to outfox his rival had failed. Worse, he had actually given his rival priceless publicity.
With lad culture at its peak, the allegations sent more men flocking to Spearmint Rhino clubs across the country.
Gray has since bought two private planes, mansions in both the US and the UK, and a 55ft yacht with the profits of his empire. He also dated X Factor reject Chloe Mafia after meeting her at the Playboy Mansion in 2015. But the scandal did buy Stringfellow time, allowing him to convince Westminster city council to hand him a licence for naked tableside dancing at his West End clubs.
Stringfellow could finally compete on an equal footing. He told documentary Lap Dance War: “Spearmint Rhino was very lucky to keep their licence.
“I’ve met John Gray since. He seems a nice enough guy to me. We were at war once, but I have no animosity.
“I don’t want to destroy anybody, or to close anybody’s clubs down. But don’t destroy my business.”
Not even Stringfellow’s death last week at the age of 77, after a secret battle with cancer, could do that.
ON FEELINGS FOR RIVAL
I have no animosity. I don’t want to close anybody’s clubs down PETER STRINGFELLOW