Wandsworth lap dancing club plans cause upset

4:25pm Wednesday 7th November 2007

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The premises next door to Wandsworth Town Hall could be turned into a lap dance and striptease club if a licensing application gets the green light.

Agora Entertainment has applied to the council for permission to use the upper floors of Wandsworth Theatre to provide "adult entertainment by way of striptease, semi nude and fully nude dancing".

“This isn’t the sort of thing we need in Wandsworth town centre. It will undermine all the work the council and the community has being doing over the past 10 years to regenerate the area.”

Councillor Vanessa Graham

It has also requested that the club, called Inigma, be allowed to serve alcohol from 11am until 2am on Mondays and Tuesdays and between 11am and 3am for the rest of the week.

"Regulated entertainment", ranging from films and wrestling to music and dancing would go on until 3am Mondays and Tuesdays and until 4am on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The plans have outraged local councillor Vanessa Graham who said they were "totally inappropriate" for Wandsworth town.

"This isn't the sort of thing we need in Wandsworth town centre. It will undermine all the work the council and the community has being doing over the past 10 years to regenerate the area."

She added: "A huge amount of money, £150million, has been spent so far and we have a development vision. We don't want things to appear that are going to reverse this trend."

Coun Graham said the club would affect businesses and residents and lower the tone of an area which is home to many families.

"We've had a problem with the venue in the past, with lots of noise, taxis drawing up late at night and drug dealers operating, and we don't want that to happen again.

"All of our decisions are based on reaching a balanced conclusion for the community and this is not ideal," she said.

The building in Wandsworth High Street was originally home to the Palace Theatre which opened on December 13, 1920. Over the years it has operated as a cinema, a bingo hall, a church and more recently a nightclub.

Ola Kanigowska, assistant manager of the Spread Eagle in Wandsworth High Street, said a standard nightclub would have a "positive effect" on local businesses as it would attract more young people to a quiet area, with nowhere open after 11pm.

However, Miss Kanigowska said a striptease and lapdancing club "may attract the wrong sort of people".

"I'm not sure whether I would oppose it as such because we would have to wait and see what it would be like," she said.

Agora Entertainment made no comment.

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