Dispatches Channel 4 Monday - Lap Dancing

[Bob Singleton]

Yes it was the usual hatchet job that could be expected of the media regarding lap dancing, but from a personal point of view, the current licencing laws make it far too easy for clubs to open. There are far too many as it is, all jammed full of munters happy to pay the house fees because the current perception is that being a lap dancer is glamorous and well paid (thanks to the lies perpetrated by Messrs Strigfellow, Gray, Whitehead, etc) .

If the licensing laws are tightened up (as they probably will be) that can only be good for the better turned out girls who currently work as dancers, as well as to the customers who frequent the clubs. Fewer clubs will mean a general raising in the quality of girls working, which surely is what the customers would want.

[TheDonkeyWork]

The vast majority of girls working these clubs are fucking hopeless on a pole! I donlt think Ive ever seen ONE in Stringfellows that does anything more than grip it gingerly and gyrate around it. I can perhaps count on one hand the number of girls I have seen in other, smaller clubs who can actually "work" a pole... seeing a girl work the pole is pretty awesome and quite clearly takes a lot of hard work and practice - but most are just plain hopeless. They haven't even bothered!

[Bob Singleton]

TheDonkeyWork wrote:

> The vast majority of girls working these clubs are fucking
> hopeless on a pole! I donlt think Ive ever seen ONE in
> Stringfellows that does anything more than grip it gingerly and
> gyrate around it. I can perhaps count on one hand the number of
> girls I have seen in other, smaller clubs who can actually
> "work" a pole... seeing a girl work the pole is pretty awesome
> and quite clearly takes a lot of hard work and practice - but
> most are just plain hopeless. They haven't even bothered!
>


The problem with lap dancing clubs in this country is that they have modelled themselves on clubs in the US and Canada without ever bothering to offer the same basic levels of entertainment to be found in those countries. In the US there is a culture of tipping (be it restaurants, taxis, clubs etc), so girls get tips for their floor shows (of course it's easier when there are $1 and $5 bills... the smallest paper currency we have is ?5 which is about $8.50) so they put an effort into their shows. A decent dancer can easily make $300-$500 in tips alone before private dances are taken into account.

In the UK, the very idea of tipping is virtually unknown (not counting the "jug collection" in traditional strip pubs), so there is no reason for the girls to put anything but the very minimum effort into their stage dances... walking in a disinterested fashion around a pole while chewing gum is about the best you're going to get.

[TheDonkeyWork]

... I hadn't even given a moments thought to the cultural differences involved, Bob. Of course - your very cogent explanation makes perfect sense... The girls genuinely see the floor show as something of a chore - they get the shout and you KNOW, you just KNOW, they don't want to get up on the stage... and now I can appreciate why. I always baulked at their resistance - wondering why thye didn't want to take the opportunity to put themselves "in the shop window", so to speak... but when you think about it - they're more likely to score a hit with some one-on-one chat than they are performing acrobatics and "working" the pole. If we were inclined to "tip" then a good floorshow would be both an earner and a working "advert"...

Given we're not going to change the long standing cultural habits of the UK population - how can you make the model work? Can it be made to work?

[Bob Singleton]

TheDonkeyWork wrote:

>
> Given we're not going to change the long standing cultural
> habits of the UK population - how can you make the model work?
> Can it be made to work?
>


If the change in the licensing law comes about (a return to the "sex encounter" style licence that costs more than the few quid than the current premises licences cost) we may see fewer clubs. The current credit crunch may put paid to a few more, leaving only, one would hope, the better clubs who are more discerning in their choice of dancers.

It won't necessarily mean you'll see better pole dances/floor shows, but the quality of the girls working (both in terms of looks and personality) may improve.

Lap dancing clubs are a cash cow for those who open them... current licences are relatively easy to get and fairly cheap (for the moment), you charge customers to enter, you sell them over-priced drinks, you charge the girls to work, you set up all sorts of stupid rules and codes in order to fine girls, and you then take commission at both ends on the private dances (a customer buying dance vouchers on a card will see a 20% surcharge, and the girls will pay at least 10% to cash in the vouchers). In more out-of-the-way clubs (like Divas in Newquay) the clubs also offer the girls accommodation... 3 or 4 girls paying ?20.00-?40.00 a night to share a dirty room no bigger than a shoe box.

EASY MONEY FOR ANY MONEY GRABBING C**T WHO WANTS TO PLAY AT BEING A "CLUB OWNER"

Many of these guys also sell drugs to the girls and know full well that many of the girls will offer to go back to hotel rooms with customers and try and take a cut from what the girls make. If the local council (or Dispatches) catches the girls doing things they shouldn't, the club just sacks the unfortunate girls and claims they are a responsible club that does everything in its power to abide by the licence. However they cannot be held responsible for the odd rogue dancer who breaks the rules! WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS!!!

[TheDonkeyWork]

... we should ditch this pseudo-respectable-stripping lark - i.e. "pole dancing"/"Lap Dancing" - and return to good old fashioned, traditional British strip in the back rooms of spit and sawdust pubs and working mens clubs! That'll do for me! Lets call a spade a spade and get on with it... I nevr saw it as progress anyway - just a workover for the trendy PC brigade!

[andy at handiwork]

With you on that one. There's always room for Bob's events, and long may they continue to give excellent value for money, but for me its pound in a glass, walk round, chat to the girls, strip pubs, a few of which still remain, thankfully, in my part of Town.