It’s funny what it takes to get the townsfolk riled. A few murders here and there, rampant drug abuse, the cost of living, the state of the world…. these are met with little rumbles of protest at best.
No, if you really want to get those petitions signed and that drum banged, bring on the dancing girls. Seriously. (Actually, citizens have also been known to unite over shoddy refuse collection, but that too comes down to stuff they don’t want in their back yard.)
Wandsworth Council (for which read one very vocal councillor) is horrified at the thought that a lap-dancing club (called Inigma, innit) may be granted a licence to operate at the rather attractive building next to Wandsworth Town Hall:
“This isn’t the sort of thing we need in Wandsworth town centre….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."
Issues such as drug dealing, noise and the deployment of taxis are cited as the potential ill effects of such a den of iniquity being allowed to open.
Poppycock. Unfortunately drug dealing goes on on just about every London street corner, and Londonist cannot think that the proximity of prurient activities will in anyway affect other vices in the area.
Now Londonist isn’t especially partial to entertainment of the scantily clad, gyrating variety…but we sure as hell don’t embrace the trumped up hypocrisy displayed by NIMBYist councillors. Properly licenced strip-clubs offer a bit of giggle for a lad’s night out: at worst they provide a bit of harmless titillation for the sad and the desperate.
A similar proposal in Peckham brought all sorts of hitherto invisible social reformers out of the woodwork. Great concern was expressed about the effects of a lap-dancing joint on school kids nearby. Regardless of the fact that most school kids are far more terrifying and capable of obscenity than the average ‘club’ patron, where are these crusading busy-bodies the rest of the time? When an area really needs help at grass roots level, they are nowhere to be seen….
Salacious photo courtesy of scootie’s flickr photo stream.
