Business district lap-dancing club gets green light despite criticism
‘Mythical’ fears over testosterone-fuelled men
ACONTROVERSIAL proposal to open a lap-dancing club in Birmingham’s business district has been approved in the face of “mythical” objections over “testosterone-fuelled men” descending on the area.
La Belle’s will be based in the former Cogs Bar with £2 million being ploughed in to refurbish and repurpose the building on the corner of Newhall Street and Great Charles Street Queensway.
Birmingham City Council’s Licensing and Public Protection committee approved the application for a Sexual Entertainment Venue licence after a five-hour meeting in which tempers occasionally flared.
There have been more than 40 official objections, particularly from
residents and businesses in the area, arguing it is an inappropriate location for a lap-dancing club.
Leo Charalambides, legal representative for the Colmore Business District (BID), described the proposed club as “one of these oldfashioned types that exploits women and objectifies them rather than celebrates sex and sexuality”.
He said: “What you need to ask is: do these fit together?
“If you add this ingredient to the cake would it sweeten the cake or leave a bitter taste?
“In the submission of the Colmore BID promoting business and having this kind of venue in the location is no longer suitable for good business.
“Businessmen and women no longer go to these types of venues at the close of their business day.”
The objections were echoed by Christopher Harris of Millennium Apartments, also in Newhall Street, who argued the area was ‘increasingly residential’, while Rob Valentine of property firm Bruntwood said: “It’s not healthy, it’s not good, it’s what we should be striving for.”
Michelle Monaghan, who also runs the Cyclone gentlemen’s club in Broad Street, is behind the La Belle’s
not venue. It will effectively be a rebrand and relocation of her other club, Scarlets, in Horse Fair, which has been blighted by staffing issues and structural problems with the building.
Its annual licence renewal has been consistently opposed by its neighbours, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Hippodrome.
Specifically addressing a written objection by Knights Coffee House in Newhall Street, Ms Monaghan’s legal representative Sarah Clover said: “This spectre of testosterone-fuelled men is wildly wrong, it’s mythical.”
Concluding her arguments Ms Clover added: “The objectors are saying ‘it’s just the wrong place, it just feels wrong, we don’t want it here,’ but when pressed to say why, they can’t.”
The committee approved La Belle’s licence application.
The objectors are saying it’s just the wrong place, it just feels wrong, but when pressed to say why, they can’t.
Sarah Clover