‘No-touching’ rules broken at strip clubs
SECRET FILMING INSPIRED REPORT THAT FOUND ‘NO EVIDENCE OF PROSTITUTION’
‘NO touching’ rules were breached at two Manchester city centre strip clubs where performers were found to have sat on the laps of punters, a town hall investigation has revealed.
The months-long probe also found that more should be done by the clubs – Victoria’s on Dantzic Street and Obsessions on Whitworth Street – to ‘guarantee the welfare’ of the dancers.
But no evidence was found by council or GMP officers to support claims that ‘prostitution’ took place there.
Both clubs have been told to bring in stricter measures, which include improving their CCTV, removing curtains from private booths and employing a compliance officer who will review video from each night.
The clubs did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But it’s understood that both venues have implemented all of required new rules.
The council opened their investigation in April after receiving a dossier on the nightspots, which included video, from campaign group Not Buying It.
The group alleged that what went on during the private sting not only breached the venues’ rules but amounted to ‘sexual contact’ with punters.
Council officers did find evidence of licence breaches at both clubs. But a spokesperson said: “Having subsequently obtained footage from those venues... the view was taken that ‘sexual contact’ was mainly limited to performers sitting on the laps of customers.”
Manchester council’s policy for sexual entertainment venue licences says there should be ‘no intentional physical contact’ between performers and customers – except for leading customers by the hand to a performance area.
“In addition, there was no evidence found by the council or GMP that prostitution was taking place on the premises,” the report found.
“But, there was clear evidence that performers had been engaging in physical contact with customers, which is not allowed under current council rules, and that more should be done by the clubs to guarantee the welfare of performers employed at both venues.”
Club bosses across the city have been ordered by the town hall to introduce a series of more stringent measures.
But a spokesperson for Not Buying It told the LDRS that the new measures are ‘utterly meaningless.’
Dr Sasha Rakoff, its CEO said that the industry ‘cannot be regulated,’ and argued that clubs elsewhere which implemented tighter measures were still found to have licence breaches.
But strippers union United Voices of the World said they were unhappy with Not Buying It’s campaign.
Dancers said they were furious with the initial undercover sting, arguing the video was taken without their consent.