Lapdancing club licence sparks concern from church and shops

Players, which is located in a large building on the corner of Cleveland Street and Printing Office Street in Doncaster, has been operating for several years with a standard alcohol licence.

But under the Policing and Crime Act 2009, councils now have the power to order sex clubs to also apply for a licence as a “sexual entertainment venue” to allow for further regulation. Doncaster Council decided late last year to adopt the powers, meaning that all such venues in the borough will require sex establishment licences to continue trading after Sunday January 15.

Each licence must be subject to the approval of the council’s full licensing committee, and interested parties are invited to make representations and objections over sex establishment licences if they wish.

The Players application is set to be ruled up by the committee next Wednesday, and a flood of objections, both from a nearby Methodist church and other businesses in the area, have already been received.

A letter signed by 13 businesses in the area has been submitted to the committee, which details a catalogue of allegations and complaints about the club and its customers.

The letter, which has been co-ordinated by the owners of the Four Seasons Family Restaurant in Printing Office Street, says: “The site is not the correct area for a lap dancing club.

“This is a huge, prominent corner site in Doncaster close to what is going to be the town’s civic quarter and where many visitors will walk past to the Frenchgate Centre or the travel interchange.

“Is this what we want our visitors to see in Doncaster town centre along with our shops and cafes?”

Other Printing Office Street businesses to have signed the letter include Little Devils Childrenswear, Jacksons Herbalist, Room 42 Hairdressing, Masserella’s Tobacconists, and Horton Knights estate agents.

Business owners in the neighbouring Colonnades shopping centre have also added their signatures to the letter, which says businesses in the area operate as a community.

A second letter has also been received by the committee by Rev Stephen Clark, who is the minister of Priory Place Methodist Church, which is just a few yards from the lapdancing club’s entrance.

The minister says: “I have been informed that the establishment known as Players, which is situated on the corner of Cleveland Street and Printing Office Street, has submitted an application for a sex establishment licence.

“I understood that in such cases, notices detailing the application need to be displayed on public view outside the premises.

“No such notices have been evident when I have checked this week.

“If it is the case that Players has applied for a licence, I am writing on behalf of the Church Council and church members to register our strong opposition to the licence being granted.

“We want Doncaster to be a place where people of all ages enjoy visiting, and feel at home in.

“The town centre, and in particular areas where there are retail shops, cafes and churches, is not a suitable area to site a sex establishment.

“If such establishments do need to exist, they should be situated outside the town centre. Inevitably the whole character of a street is detrimentally affected by the presence of a sex establishment.

“People of all ages come to our church, including children, young people and young families. Having a sex establishment nearby is certainly not something in the best interests of our children.”

Nobody from the company which owns Players, TR Leisure Ltd, was available for comment yesterday.

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