By Safe Cheltenham
According to Visit Cheltenham, I live in a festival town: “True to its spa and Regency heritage, Cheltenham continues to refresh mind, body and soul with a packed calendar of cultural festivals and major sports events”.
Cheltenham also has a racecourse. And with the races come lap dancing and stripping. There’s no demand at any other time of year, there are no permanent strip clubs in Cheltenham.
During the Gold Cup festival in March 2024, the local SARC (Sexual Assault Referral Centre) had a team present on Cheltenham High Street. A stark and shaming symbol of what the races mean for residents and visitors that week. A recent Council survey showed that 69% of women and girls felt “not very safe” at night in Cheltenham.
There were three lap-dancing venues operating in Gold Cup week, two were licensed, one operated under the “frequency exemption”. Performers are almost all female, and the majority of customers are men. Lap dancing in Cheltenham means total nudity, with “performances” in private booths.
In 2023, the Irish Sun published a piece about one of the clubs. It quoted a punter saying, “It’s three floors of whores”, a female dancer who’d travelled from Manchester to perform saying, “it’s like the red-light district”, and it claimed, “there are reports some girls offer extras in private booths”.
It is well known that during race events, many women who live and work in Cheltenham change their behaviour – they work from home, change their exercise habits, many don’t go out in town. Many women avoid the areas where the lap-dancing venues are located, or other venues near them.
Women working in the restaurants, bars and clubs talk of being regularly harassed by men during that week. There are also reports of women in the town being harassed multiple times by men who make reference to lap-dancing and the sex trade.
Using Cheltenham as a case study, this article provides a brief overview of the current legislation that governs lap-dancing clubs in England and Wales and presents evidence that the “frequency exemption” contained within the legislation is not fit for purpose and should be repealed.
In 2009, following a sustained campaign by feminist organisations, the Policing and Crime Act 2009 brought lap-dancing clubs within the scope of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. The legislation was intended to give local residents a greater say in how many, if any, lap-dancing clubs operated in their towns without it being necessary to demonstrate harm.[1] It was also intended to provide a tighter regulatory regime for lap-dancing clubs.
Prior to this, lap-dancing clubs had been regulated in the same way as cafes and bars, which meant they could only be stopped from opening if they attracted crime, were a nuisance or endangered the public. Between 2004 and 2008 the number of clubs doubled in England and Wales to 300.
Under this new regulatory framework, local politicians were given powers to regulate lap-dancing clubs in their local area. These powers included whether to grant, renew or refuse a licence, to decide whether certain localities were suitable, and to impose licensing conditions. Licensing conditions regulate a broad range of matters such as hours of operation, advertising and solicitation, and the prohibition of touching between performers, and performers and customers.
Despite concerns raised by feminist campaigners, the legislation included an exemption, known as the “frequency exemption”, which was intended to allow “one-off striptease to escape regulation”.[2]
The frequency exemption allows for temporary / infrequent lap dancing events up to 11 times in a calendar year but no more than once in a single month. These events can last for up to 24 hours with no limit on the number of customers and without any regulatory control or licensing conditions.
Parliament recognised the potentially wide effect of the frequency exemption and included within the legislation the ability to repeal the exemption “by order” in s.2A(4) to (8).
Indeed, Stephen Gilbert, MP for St Austell & Newquay (2010-2015), highlighted concerns regarding the impact of the frequency exemption in 2013 during a Parliamentary debate on Sexual Entertainment Licence Exemptions.
“My understanding is that the exemption was designed to allow for one-off entertainment events, such as the attendance of a strippergram at a birthday party. Such provision was made with the best intentions, but there is a real risk that it is too broad and open to abuse.”
It is widely acknowledged that a “no-touching” condition is essential for the good regulation of lap dancing, to protect both the performer and customer. Conditions are contained in many SEV licences around the country, but no such condition would (or could) apply to these temporary lap-dancing events. The same is true of the very many other “standard” conditions widely considered necessary to regulate lap dancing.
Furthermore, the legislation does not restrict an operator from using different premises in the same area on consecutive nights without a licence.
Indeed, at a licence hearing for an SEV in Cheltenham, the legal representative of an applicant noted: “It must be remembered that the applicant could operate exempt SEV activity at five different venues.”
Under the current legislative framework this is a legitimate argument and one that understandably influences licensing decisions, as it is clear that lap dancing will take place whether the council grants the licence or not. Taking this into consideration, it is not unreasonable for licensing committees to take the position that it is “less risky” for lap-dancing to be licensed and subject to licensing conditions than to operate under the frequency exemption with no safeguards.
By way of example, there are no permanent lap-dancing clubs in Cheltenham. Those clubs that are granted an SEV licence only host lap dancing during Cheltenham horseracing events. In March 2024, three clubs operated in Cheltenham, two were licensed, one operated using the frequency exemption.
It has been confirmed at hearings that between 400-500 customers a night are expected at one lap-dancing club in Cheltenham.
During routine inspections at one club, breaches of the “no touching” conditions were observed, resulting in a written warning being issued to the licence holder.
Regulatory officials also witnessed touching during a routine visit to the venue operating under the frequency exemption. As this venue was operating under the exemption, they were not bound by any conditions prohibiting touching, so no action could be taken.
It is incoherent that this legislation, via the frequency exemption, permits sexual entertainment venues on the scale seen in Cheltenham to operate without any regulatory control. Furthermore, it is inconsistent that “touching” occurring at two different venues results in two very different outcomes.
The legislation, in its current form, places the burden of decision making on local councils who are faced with the reality that (unregulated) lap dancing will continue regardless. It is reasonable to suggest that licensing committees are permitting lap dancing where, without the exemption, they may have decided to prohibit any such venues.
The impact of the exemption in locations such as Cheltenham also undermines a key objective of the legislation – to allow communities a stronger voice in SEV licensing decisions and to provide a tighter regulatory regime. Considerations for objectors include:
- If an SEV will operate anyway, would I prefer it to be regulated with licensing conditions or operate under the exemption with no regulatory control or safeguards? Is there even any point in objecting?
- It becomes a conversation about balancing “risk”. This was not the intention of the legislation.
- The operation and consequences of the exemption arguably undermine and subvert residents’ ability to participate in local democratic decision making.
Whilst Cheltenham has been used as an example, the consequences and conclusions will apply equally to locations across England and Wales where the frequency exemption is used either to operate SEVs or to influence licensing decisions.
Cheltenham’s MP, Max Wilkinson, has recently raised the issue in a Parliamentary Debate and shared the following comments: “I also raised the ongoing issues caused by the ridiculous loopholes in the law that allow pop-up sexual entertainment. This puts our local council in an invidious position. I’m pressing ministers to close the loophole.”
In a recent letter to the Home Secretary, the Chair of Cheltenham Borough Council’s Licensing Committee noted: “the presence in law of the ‘exemption’ has led to the creation of exploitable loopholes.”
It is evident that neither the legislation nor the regulatory framework is operating as Parliament intended when it debated and included the frequency exemption. The effect has been, as predicted by feminists, too wide. Parliament should repeal the frequency exemption by utilising the powers available under s.2A(4) to (8).
Safe Cheltenham is a residents’ group advocating for safety and equality for women and girls in Cheltenham. We believe that the presence of lap-dancing clubs in Cheltenham fundamentally undermines this. If you would like to know more about our work, please contact us via X on @SafeCheltenham or email SafeCheltenham@proton.me.
[1] Sex licensing, Kolvin, Preface, 2010
[2] Sex Licensing, Kolvin, 3.21, 2010