Campaign to block Stringfellow honour

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to block plans for Sheffield City Council to honour the late nightclub tycoon Peter Stringfellow.

Friends of the Sheffield-born lapdance club owner want to recognise what the former General Technology College pupil did for the city’s music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. An initial petition was launched after the council said that it could not consider the request to include his name on the city’s Walk of Fame as it can only include people who are still alive, so they can appear in person.

But now a campaign group, Not Buying It Sheffield, has launched its own counter petition opposing the call as Stringfellow is “synonymous with the total glamorisation of the strip industry”.

The petition states it would be “wholly inappropriate” to honour Stringfellow on the Walk of Fame alongside other famous names from the city, including former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks, actor Sean Bean, broadcaster Michael Palin, astronaut Helen Sharman and former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis.

The pro-Stringfellow campaign was launched by Barry Northall, 71, from Todwick, near Sheffield, who first met Mr Stringfellow in 1962 and worked for him throughout his years in Sheffield.

He said the club owner was instrumental in the rise of the city’s music scene, and brought acts including The Beatles, The Kinks, The Merseybeats, Elton John and Rod Stewart to Sheffield.

Stringfellow died last month after losing his battle with cancer. The 77-year-old businessman, who had wanted to keep his illness private, died on June 7.