Advice sought...

[denny]

So, a friend of mine (no, really, it's not me :) ) is looking at hopefully opening up a fetish night, possibly in a dedicated club, possibly not. However, he's somewhat concerned about the legal position. He's of the opinion that the police in his target town are probably going to go with the letter of the law, rather than turning a blind eye to anything that's not actively causing trouble, so he really needs to know what the legal position actually is. Personally, I don't have a clue - I'm of the belief that most events are getting away with dungeons and swinging rooms/areas because the police in their town are turning a blind eye as long as no-one gets hurt/complains/whatever - but that's just my guess, I don't know.

I do know that at least a couple of people reading this have run fetish clubs in the past, or are involved with their running now, and of course quite a few of us are keen attenders of such events. Hopefully some of you can offer advice, or somewhere I can point my friend where he can get the definitive word on what is and is not allowed.

Many thanks for any input anyone can give...

Comments

[topbit.livejournal.com]

I know of two extremes - Ceasars (http://www.ceasarsnightclub.com/) apparently has a full nudity licence, so pretty much anything goes. There is another I know of (but not been to) which is held in a private clubhouse, that the police will leave alone anyway (bikers). I doubt the organisers of that allow much of anything beyond regular enough fetish club action though.

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

Cheers bud..
The licensing law ( and beleive me it's Draconian even in it's revamped version ) States that a public house ( includes nighclubs ) will not be run in a lewd or unsavoury manner...well hey lets just set the goal posts two continents appart or what ?

The nudity license is a sort of different thing, which main city ( London Birmingham police ) are treating liberally to let tehm not have to hassle say, more " liberal " clubs and establishements.. the nudity license is more a grant from the council that exotic dancers and strippers may perform, although if you read the small print they must never really be naked ( hence most strippers leave their shoes on..daft I know )

If you have a nudity license and allow touching ( grop boxes and or the like ) you are actually gonna get in more crap than if you threw a full blown night at a regular boozer..

The law really is unclear...

As per the biker club, If you hod a licence for members only ( which can be really loosly translated ) You can do what the hell you like, but not serve alcohol ( catch 22 )
Some clubs will say that paying to get inis your membership and o paper confins with the law, but you need to have several 10's of thousands in the bank to throw at your solicitor to argue the point untill the baylon go away, which is something I dont have, given that opening the club is gonna cost me around 39K, I don't want to a.) Make any solicitors kids too fat they can't do sprts :)
or B.) Lose my house...

Comments from anyone who has really gone through the system welcomed privatley or in this message board...

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

Shoot, sorry spelling or rather typing so bad in my last post, tried to edit, but it wasn't happening, hope you get teh jist...again humble apologies

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Afaik, Ceasars is one of four places in this country to have a very special license which permits sexual activity on the premises - it's not the same thing as the nudity license, which is for strippers etc.

The list of conditions for the license they have is extensive, including a lack of proximity to schools, churches, and all other kinds of crap. Plus, I dread to think how much bribery and other finessing goes into getting that kind of thing approved. I was talking to a couple of the people who run events there about it once, it was quite interesting...

[world-of-skin.livejournal.com]

This is making for some very interesting reading...

[fellcat.livejournal.com]

hence most strippers leave their shoes on..daft I know

Less daft than the nipple covers employed by strippers to satisfy the legal requirements of some US states. High-heeled shoes on their own can look good anyway.

but not serve alcohol ( catch 22 )

Run, as a separate business in a separate building nearby, an off-licence, and stick a big sign over the club door saying

BRING YOUR OWN ALCOHOL
← off-licence

It might work. :-)

[msdemmie.livejournal.com]

Main problem here is that different areas/councils allow different things. Different police authorities have different remits according to the colour of their councils.

The laws that affect Fetish clubs are not the same in two cities in the UK. It is not just fetish events, but also markets and sex clubs, sex shops and video shops that suffer.

Some local authorities have *zones* , some have a points system, that you may drink, and you may have strippers, but no sex - some allow *private members clubs*. There is no one standard.

SWAMP (Bristol)is run in a gay club that already has various licences, including a nice catch all phrase that allows thriteen *special events* a year, that includes the market and the afterparty.

Some local authorities say that any place selling or displaying phallic sextoys has to have a sex licence - and also pay for that licence ( often up to 50K a year in some areas.)

If you mail me Denny - I can ask some questions of people in the know - or pass on contacts for you - would help if you can include the area !

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

High-heeled shoes on their own can look good anyway.

I don't believe that someone else had to make this observation in my journal :) Obviously I'm not getting enough sleep lately.

[fellcat.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought that the reason for leaving the shoes on was aesthetic only, until now.

I don't think that the law should tell a woman, or for that matter anyone, how much or little of her body she can show at a private event. I don't think that her boss should either.

[djlongfella.livejournal.com]

" Some local authorities say that any place selling or displaying phallic sextoys has to have a sex licence - and also pay for that licence ( often up to 50K a year in some areas.) "

Yeah I noticed that when doing my research for the club, I was researching buisness rates etc...I noted that the same building I want to open was ( x ) k a year biz rates as a club...but nearly 10 times that as a sex shop !!! I asked the council official, Why so much ? The is no other category even near it...
The answer was.. " We don't want that sort of thing here "...
" Oh I see, " I said.." but if you got to have it, you don't mind taking a large portion of their money..."