Taking a break from making up stories about the activities inside local strip clubs, Scottish councillors are now attacking what happens outside. A club in Edinburgh's Lothian Road has been allowed to keep its licence only after pledging not to allow 'scantily clad' lapdancers to tout for business outside the club.
Residents have complained that strippers from the venue are regularly sent out to entice passersby inside and that the club is a "bad neighbour".
They also complained that club staff left business cards featuring pictures of their strippers in phone boxes and on benches in the area. How shocking!
Big Daddy Os was called to the licensing board to renew its public house licence, something which Tollcross Community Council predictably tried to block.
The council asked whether a public house licence was suitable for the activities carried out in the club. But the owners said that because they did not always charge for entry and because they did not always have 'dancers' on stage, a public house licence was appropriate.
However, the community council complained about the 'harassment' of people on the street outside the club.
Chairman David Rintoul said: "The area is plagued with people coming out late at night trying to entice passersby into the club. These are the girls who dance in the club, and once the anti-smoking regulations come in they will probably claim they are just coming out for a cigarette."
Well, we certainly can't have strippers being allowed out into the open air now, can we?
Tollcross Councillor Chris Wigglesworth (a great stripper surname in itself) said: "I have seen these cards in the street and as the local councillor I am only too well aware of the fact that many people do not want to walk along that section of pavement because of its reputation."
Solicitor Robin Morton, representing Big Daddy Os, said: "My client would certainly disagree that they are a bad neighbour.
"We do have simple flyers which are distributed, but only around certain licensed premises and certainly not in places such as phone boxes. Neither do they encourage or allow lapdancers to stand outside the club scantily clad and speak to people passing by."
A spokesman for the club added that any women outside the club who were "scantily clad" would probably have more to do with the fact that it was Lothian Road, and would certainly not have come from Big Daddy Os. Quite - and most likely the chavvy nature of other bars in the area is what keeps those 'many people' away too. Norrie McLean, the police licensing inspector, confirmed that officers regularly visited the club and had no issues with the way it was run.
Licensing leader Phil Attridge said that the licence would only be granted if the applicants agreed not to distribute flyers in the street and not in future "allow lapdancers to go out on to the street to entice people in to the club".