British authorities are cracking down on strip clubs

Isn’t Labour supposed to be the left wing party?

Why have they pivoted so hard into anti-fun, save the children pearl clutching?

Edit: Article’s paywalled so I can’t see all of it, but the bit that’s visible doesn’t mention any wrongdoing that justifies a crackdown?

Looks like people aren’t having enough kids, get breeding as they’ve run out of cogs for their machines.

Sugar & spice, a strip club in Norwich, counts surgeons and judges among its customers. The business, co-owned by Daz Crawford, an actor and former athlete in the television game-show “Gladiators”, is fighting not only for respectability but survival. Like most nightlife spots in Britain, it suffers from declining footfall. It also faces challenges unique to its category. The number of licensed clubs, formally known as sexual entertainment venues (sevs), in England and Wales has dropped from around 350 in the early 2000s to some 150 today. Although stigma and changing consumer habits, including the rise of online pornography, have not helped, local restrictions have accelerated the retreat.

Norwich City Council—like many other local authorities—has a “nil cap” licensing policy for sevs. This means no new licences can be issued: when one such business closes (Norwich has three), it cannot be replaced. Norwich also imposes constraints on what performers are allowed to do. Performers and club owners say these have become steadily more disruptive, with limits on “dirty talk” and on dancers touching even their own bodies. By sanitising performances, suggests one Norwich-based dancer, Nina Salome, the council is legislating sevs out of business.

When strip clubs close, Ms Salome says, the demand doesn’t disappear, it goes underground. Far from feeling exploited, Louise, a dancer at Sugar & Spice, says the work is empowering. Tech platforms like OnlyFans are often seen as alternatives to strip clubs. But performers say in-person work has clearer boundaries. Louise notes the advantages of physical clubs’ security staff, cctv and peer friendships.

In Germany and the Netherlands sex-related industries are nationally regulated. In Britain control is given to local councils and unionisation is weaker. The result is a wildly uneven landscape. In some cities, like Manchester, strip clubs are treated as part of the night-time economy, with robust licensing reviews. Norwich City Council says it updates its policies “to ensure businesses can continue to trade successfully and safely for everyone’s benefit”. Mr Crawford claims that, despite repeated invitations, “no one” from the council has attended Sugar & Spice. He does not dispute the need for rules, but asks that those with knowledge and experience of strip clubs be the ones to make them. 

What a strange little article. It cites only one local authority’s regulation, and gives zero quotes from the local authority or its policies. We are simply given no information about why this is happening or how widespread it is. Nor even why we should care.

It’s bizarre.

Maybe they not donated to the Party like the gambling industry.

Good to see, as always, many comments haven’t read the article.