Here We Go Again

05/08/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Here We Go Again (UPDATED)
The Clarkeson Arms wants to turn itself into a Lap Dancing club and inflict pounding bass lines, drunken revellers and scantily clad ladies upon the streets of Wisbech.  (Well, more of those things, anyway.)

It seems that a week doesn’t pass where somebody isn’t trying to drop things into Wisbech that people who live here would prefer stayed away.  I suppose the accusations of nimbyism will start again in due course.  (Nimby - Not In My Backyard.)  My problem with that term is that by its nature ”your backyard” is surely a place you’d like kept in a certain manner and not filled with things you don’t want, like or which might want to vomit on your lawn.  That’s a normal human response.  It’s not necessarily a bad response either.
    
Back to the Lap Dancing Club:
While I wouldn’t visit such a venue (I think my wife might have something to say about that sort of behaviour - or at the very least would insist on going with me ) I personally don’t have a problem with Lap-Dancing clubs in certain environments.  They are legal businesses in this country.  But Wisbech is a small town and these sort of places are more suited to large cities - where the police are always around and have huge forces capable of handling potential problems.
      
The arguments against these sort of places are many and varied.  Some claim they make the streets more dangerous for women.  This is probably true.  After all, young men tend to drink a load of alcohol and get hot and bothered looking at barely-dressed girls gyrating enticingly but whom they absolutely can’t approach.  That’s a recipe for trouble if ever I heard of one. 
  
Is Lap Dancing degrading for women?  I think that’s a matter for the women to decide - and I know it can become quite a thorny debate in some circles.  I suspect, all too often, it is a trap which ensnares vulnerable women with the promise of popularity and money - a promise that ultimately is revealed as nothing more than a shoddy illusion.  Nevertheless, some women choose to become dancers and are happy in their work and I guess they have the right to take on any legal profession they want to.
  
Whatever the case for or against lap dancing clubs there is one thing that seems to be pretty clear.  People feel strongly about it.  As a keen supporter of localism I believe that decisions must finally be taken by the people closest to the issue and most likely to be affected by it.  The people who live near the Clarkeson Arms are saying: “No!” and they are saying it loudly.  Some others throughout town feel quite the opposite, including several people I’ve spoken to recently.  In a perfect world it is therefore the job of those who wish to open the club to make their arguments, engage in the debate, and try to convince local folk they’ve got it wrong.  And if that’s not possible - then the license should be refused.
  
But being realistic, that is probably not what’s going to happen.  What is more likely is that there will be enough people opposing the idea to force it to go to committee - where it will be approved.  This is not the committees fault.  The licensing laws in this country are extremely permissive and the committee must consider the expense of going to an appeal they are almost certain to lose.  It’s a sad state of affairs, all told.  And one I hope might change with a corresponding change in national government. 
   
In the event that the lap dancing club does open, what then?  Well, in the current economic climate I’d give it six months, maybe a year, until the shutters and For Sale sign are up again.  But who knows?  These are strange times.

UPDATED (13th August)
Wow.  They threw it out!  I really didn’t expect that, but i’m really enthused by the responsiveness of the District Council committee to the strong public feeling.  Whether you like the idea of a lap-dancing club or not, it’s surely a great thing that the will of local people has been heard and acted upon.  Hurrah for localism and local democracy.
   
  

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