Campaign ends lap dance club plan

Campaigners opposed to a lap dancing club in Henley-on-Thames have forced the owners to give up the licence.

Diamonds and Pearls was to have opened on Saturday on the ground floor of a former nightclub in Greys Road.

The club had been given a licence by South Oxfordshire District Council, but businessman Manowar Hussain said the plans were now on hold.

Henley Town councillor Dr Barry Wood had set up a group in an attempt to close the venue.

He was organising a rally for next weekend and started a petition opposing the establishment.

Dr Wood said: "It is fantastic news. There is room for clubs and so on, but not in the centre of Henley.

"Not where there are 5,000 kids who can pass past the doorway."

Legal loophole

Mr Hussain, who planned to open the club, told the BBC he had surrendered his licence to another business.

He revealed both floors of the building will now be used instead by Latinos nightclub, which used to be elsewhere in the town.

The licensing authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, said it had received no objections from the police or residents about the lap dancing club during the consultation period.

Leader of the council Ann Ducker said: "We can't ban licensing on moral grounds. We had to have grounds to reject it.

"There's a loop in the legislation which means you don't need special permission for lap dancing under an entertainment licence for a late-night club."

In 2001 an ITV programme brought similar opposition when it spoofed people into believing the British lap dancing championship was to be held in Henley.