“When The Wind Blows Some Buildings May Fall...”
“The Licensing Act 2003 is an Act to make provision about the regulation of the sale and supply of alcohol, the provision of entertainment and the provision of late night refreshment, about offences relating to alcohol and for connected purposes.” (The Licensing Act, 2003, p.10) Local authorities establish a licensing policy which shows how they make decisions based on applicants and individual decisions around licencing, this policy must be reviewed every five years. Within the Licencing Act there are 4 key objectives which have to be present within local policies, these are Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Prevention of Public Nuisance, Public Safety and Prevention of Children from Harm. (The Licensing Act, 2003, p.12) You must apply for license if you have a venue or event which includes activities such as; the sale by retail of alcohol, the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a member of a club, the provision of late-night refreshment, the provision of regulated entertainment. However, in 2009 the 2003 Act was amended “to ensure that a sexual entertainment venue license is required or held…as such entertainment is expressly excluded from the definition of regulated entertainment found in the 2003 Act” (Home Office, 2010, p.10) nevertheless if the premises carry's out other licensable activities, as above, they will require a premises licence, club licence or temporary event notice. Put into practice, this means the majority of lap dancing venues and similar clubs will require both a Sexual Entertainment Licence and a Premises Licence. (ibid.)
The Windmill strip club in Soho, London faces closure after staging striptease shows since 1932 (86 years) (BBC News, 2018). The club is famous for not shutting its doors during the Blitz, and beginning the careers of stars such as Bruce Fosyth and Peter Sellers (Sheppard and Prynn, 2018), in 2005 Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench was released which is inspired by the story of The Windmill and where it began. (ibid.)
“The Nazi’s couldn’t close it…now the feminists have.” (Spillet, 2018). A women’s right group had reason to believe that The Windmill were breaching conditions placed within it’s license about performer/customer interaction, and felt the management were prostituting the dancers; the group hired former police officers as an inside eye to the establishment. (BBC News, 2018) After agreeing the former officer described his experience within the club, which showed strong links between the women’s rights groups declaration. (ibid.)
The investigators report states: “'I was approached by a dark-haired female who was wearing a see-through dressing gown and red bra, suspender belt, and knickers and high heeled shoes. She told me her name was Summer. I bought her a white wine and a Malibu and coke… she began her dance during which she removed all of her clothing until she was fully naked, as she performed she rubbed herself up and down my groin area.”
He continues: “I was approached by a tall Asian female…she was dressed in a black bra, knickers, stockings and a see-through short dressing gown, she asked for a glass of champagne which I bought her, we then had a conversation where she offered me a VIP dance for £160 where I could touch her. I agreed and we went back to the VIP lounge.” (Spillet, 2018)
The investigator also claims that out of the £160 the dancer paid the security guard £10 to ‘look the other way’. (BBC News, 2018)
Section 2.5.40 of Nudity, Striptease and Sex Related Entertainment under Conditions states: If nudity or partial nudity forms part of the entertainment (e.g. striptease, pole or lap dancing), or is part of the operation of the premises (e.g. topless or fetish bars and clubs), the Licensing Authority will attach conditions to any such premises licence it may grant to promote the licensing objectives. These will include conditions relating to the exclusion of persons under 18 at all times from premises where these activities take place; the prevention of views into the premises; prohibiting exterior advertising of the sex related entertainment at the premises; and the leafleting or touting for business. Conditions will be imposed requiring that all service is to seated customers; prohibiting the participation of customers in performances and on maintaining a minimum distance of one metre between performers and customers and between performers during performance. This is to ensure that it can be easily observed that no touching or other acts that would constitute disorder take place. There will also be conditions on the installation and operation of CCTV and retaining recordings of performances and on the employment of supervisors. The Licensing Authority may attach other conditions as appropriate. (City of Westminster, 2005, p.52)
From the investigators report The Windmill has breached several of the conditions, highlighted above, that have been put into place by the Westminster City Council within the terms of granting the venue a license; the venue was investigated by council officers and on the 4th of January there was a letter stating that there had “been a significant improvement…however, conditions are still being breached.” (Sheppard & Prynn, 2018)
The venue is currently owned by Daniel Owide, who ran it alongside his father who unfortunately died in December 2017. Owide wrote in a letter which apologised for the clubs failing: “I spent a lot of time caring for him and regrettably I acknowledge that I have diverted my attention from running the business during this challenging time. We have dismissed six dancers, suspended 10 dancers and sent dancers home during the night on 10 occasions. Any breach of the ‘no touching rule’ results in immediate dismissal. I am now confident the entire team are committed to ensuring our compliance and we will work tirelessly to ensure no future lapses.” (Sheppard & Prynn, 2018)
Big Country, the firm which runs the venue, applied to renew its licence for striptease, pole-dancing and table dancing from 9am to 5:30am daily except Sunday. On the 11th January the City Council decided that they would not be renewing the venues sexual entertainment license, Council leader Nickie Aiken said: “There is a thin line between seedy and bohemian, what was happening at this club — historic though it may be — crossed that line.” The chairman of the council’s licensing committee Angela Harvey also commented: “"After careful review of the evidence provided for and against the renewal of this sexual entertainment licence, Westminster City Council has decided not to renew this venue's licence. Serious breaches of licence conditions will not be tolerated in Westminster's licensed venues. We expect any business operating under a licence within our city, to do so in a safe and responsible way, ensuring protection of all those who come into contact with this form of entertainment."
The club has declined to comment on the City Council’s decision.
Personally, I feel there is blame on both halves. The above explains why The Windmill is in the wrong breaching elements of the conditions put into place, however I feel the council has some responsibility to do routine checks on establishments, one of the conditions above is ‘There will also be conditions on the installation and operation of CCTV and retaining recordings of performances and on the employment of supervisors.’ from this they are able to create a basic picture of what is happening inside venues. In this case a reflection on the CCTV by a licensing inspector showed that “excess of 50 per cent of the dances would reflect [licensing] breaches or cause for concern” in October alone. By putting into place regular inspections of CCTV or ‘mystery shopper’ like experiences, for example what the women’s right group initiated, gives the council and authorities a true representation of a club.
BBC News (2018). Soho's historic Windmill strip club faces closure [Online]. Availble from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42647774 [Accessed 12 March 2018]
City of Westminster. (2005) CITY OF WESTMINSTER STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY [Online] Availible from: file:///C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Licensing_policy_2005.pdf [Accessed 14 March 2018]
Home Office. (2010) Sexual Entertainment Venues Guidance for England and Wales [Online] Availble from: www.licensingresource.co.uk/sites/all/files/sex/sev_guidance.pdf [Accessed 14 March 2018]
Sheppard, O. & Prynn, J. (2018) Historic Soho lap-dancing club The Windmill Theatre faces closure after performers flout 'no touching' rules [Online]. Availble from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/historic-soho-lapdancing-club-the-windmill-theatre-faces-closure-after-sting-finds-performers-flout-a3736546.html [Accessed 12 March 2018]
Spillet, R. (2018) The famous Windmill Theatre strip club in Soho could lose its licence over claims performers flouted 'no touching' rules [Online]. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5261787/Sohos-Windmill-Theatre-strip-club-loses-licence.html [Acessed 14 March 2018]
The Licensing Act. (2003) 2003 CHAPTER 17 [Online]. Availble from: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/pdfs/ukpga_20030017_en.pdf [Accessed 13 March 2018]
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