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Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 07:02
City councillors have granted permission for the Pilgrims Sports Bar to turn its upstairs bar into a pole-dancing club. The move was opposed by police at a licensing committee who said it would attract large groups of potential trouble-makers into the area.
The pub, on the Barbican, is in one of the council's 'cumulative impact' areas, intended to control the opening of new pubs and clubs.
Committee chairman Cllr John Lock admitted members had wanted to turn down the application because it would lead to a deterioration of a family-friendly area, but that after legal advice they decided they had insufficient powers to do so under the Licensing Act and the council's own policies.
Licensee Richard Netherton will still have to win planning permission before he can open the club.
But Dee Harvey, chairwoman of the Upper Barbican Residents' Association, said: "This will mean open season for anyone who wants to open a pole-dancing club in the Barbican.
"What's the point of the council's cumulative impact policy? The residents have no say but we'll be the ones dealing with the drunks attracted to the club.
"This is now going to go downhill as a family area. We're looking at a second Union Street. Common sense has gone out of the window. We'll fight this tooth and nail."
Mr Netherton said outside the meeting: "I'm happy. I think they've made the right decision."
His solicitor Peter Durbin added there were a lot of conditions in place to 'safeguard the interests of the community'.
Mr Netherton applied to change his licence to allow a separate pole-dancing club on the second floor of Pilgrims Sports Bar on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9pm to 2am.
Customers will have to become members, supply a name and address and prove they are over 21. Seventy-five people will be allowed in at any one time at £5 apiece, a reduction on the current number of 100 drinkers allowed on the top floor.
David Campbell, counsel for the Chief Constable, said groups of young men, who were most likely to cause trouble, would be attracted from the city centre and Union Street into the Barbican, which was relatively quiet in terms of violence and disorder.
"This would import a lot of people into the area who would not otherwise be there and cause a lot of trouble which would be difficult to deal with," he said.
Even Mr Durbin told the committee the application was 'an uphill struggle'.
He said the pay desk and separate entrance would be covered by CCTV and the club would not be advertised in the other bar.
Mr Netherton and his staff had a good record of dealing with any trouble in the 10 months he had been at the pub, he said.
Cllr Lock said after the meeting that members did not want to grant the application, adding: "The Barbican is a family area and we want to keep it that way. We don't want another Union Street in the Barbican area."
However, the cumulative impact policy (otherwise known as a saturation policy) was intended to stop new premises and could not prevent a change in a licence. He said: "We didn't make the rules. It still has to go through planning. We weren't given an opportunity by the police.
"We felt they could have been much stronger in their objections, and therefore there's no reason at this moment in time to implement a refusal."
Environmental health officer David Hughes told the committee planning officers had told him their first impression was allowing the club would be contrary to the Sutton Harbour Area Action Plan. Police refused to comment after the decision.
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