HARROGATE

[MrsClown]

Does anyone live near or visit Harrogate. I do not live there but I recently booked some theatre tickets for the theatre in Harrogate and find it is practically next door to a strip club!!!! I contacted Harrogate Council to comment on how rediculous it is and they have informed me that the closing date for objections is 26 January 2012. I wondered if anyone else would be willing to write to the licensing department at Harrogate Council to object. I mean, I did not really want to have to attend the theatre with my family next to part of the sex trade!

Please go on the OBJECT website which gives ideas on wording and further advice regarding objections to these establishments.

I've never been but am planning a visit there soon so will look it up - maybe say I'm reconsidering it if plans go ahead, will harm their profile, tourism, etc.

The council have had a huge hoo ha about discontinuing men-only sessions at its Turkish Spa while retaining women-only sessions. They haven't been straight up about their reasoning, citing "low take up" for the men-only sessions, but also there seem to be issues of "inappropriate behaviour" in men-only sessions that they have not dealt with at all well. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8949084/Men-only-Turkish-baths-banned-due-to-inappropriate-behaviour.html

The decision has brought some men out of the woodwork who are clearly not happy about the council's decision - fair enough, but they are doing the big one about, "they wouldn't dare stop women-only sessions" and "this is sexist" and generally using their complaint as a concern to rant about "the womenz."

For example, "reviews" on Trip Advisor here and here and comments on the Turkish Baths facebook page.

Sorry if that seems a bit of a tangent, but now I've got two reasons I wished I hadn't booked a weekend there! (with apologies to the good folks of Harrogate!) :)

Sorry Kritiq, I didnt make myself very clear. Harrogate already has 2 strip joints and it is these that are up for relicensing. One is practically next door to the theatre and 1 is on the same street as Harrogate Council Offices. Unbelievable.

I am going to try to cobble a letter together tonight and send it in.

Gotcha. Even crapper!

By the way, I have looked into what premises are around the area and there is actually an Early Learning Centre!!! I cant get my breath.

Harrogate Feminists are on the case and I am sure they would be really pleased you are doing this too.

Hello! Yes please, we would definitely appreciate anyone writing to the council (obviously we are going to do this too!). The council are v keen on promoting Harrogate as a place to visit, so I think your views as visitors/potential visitors would be really important to them.

Thanks! :)

Thank you! I have done my letter to the council and I have also contacted the theatre. It has really spoilt my evening out because I will have a teenage girl with me and I am worried that when we come out we may bump into some dick heads. Hope it works.

HarrogateFeminists, sorry forgot to mention. I live in Doncaster and I am a lone feminist. If you hear of anyone in my area can you let me know.

Thanks alot.

I must say, re SEV on Oxford Street, the lady I spoke to in the theatre agreed with me.

Just an update on this. I have just received the pack re licensing meeting on 23 February. Here's hoping.

I read the contracts that the strippers have to sign!!!! No wonder there aren't really any clubs with men stripping, they wouldn't put up with it. Apparently, in 1 of them the girls are mainly Eastern Europeans and we all know what that means. I am just so disgusted that everyone is not up in arms about this situation.

In terms of practicalities of going to the theatre with your family - depending on where you parked/where you are staying you wouldn't need to go near the club. You also cant really tell it is a stripclub (well ok, an adult could probably tell but the childrent wouldnt) it doesnt have any pictures outside and I've actually never seen a man go in! Even on Sat nights it doesnt have a stream of men going in and out. It just looks like a night club. You could walk past it 1000 times and probably not realise if you didnt know it was there.

A friend of mine who has visited me in Harrogate many many times was once astonished to read something about it and claimed he had never seen it. I described where it is and he said 'oh, but I;ve been past that! I never knew.'

I didnt actually know there was a second one...I am know wondering where it is, especially as you say it is near the ELC...

I'm not arguing against your writing to shut it down, that is of course up to you and the Harrogate feminists. I have to say in this day and age I dont see the need for strip clubs although.

But please dont let this spoil your visit to my lovely home town! I really dont think wildcats will impact your theatre visit. (No I dont work for the theatre or the council. I dont actually live there any more but visit often.)

Hello, appreciate your concern for the feminist cause (I really do I'm not being facetious) however I work part time in this club and rely on the wages to bolster my income for my family - they are not bad employees, and I've had much much worse jobs. So please think of the women that rely on this income and don't try and shut it down.

Is there nowhere else in Harrogate you could find paid work then, not a single place?

(I was there a couple weeks ago and there were actually some shops that were looking for staff, so there surely are possibilities.)

Its not like your going in...

Point missed completely.

If you don't have an agenda and genuinely wish to find out why some folks are concerned about this, visit OBJECT's website. Tonnes of info on the wider detrimental impact of strip joints on the locality and particularly the safety of women.

sorry, i saw the thread title and though 'oo i love harrogate' and didnt see what topic it was in til after i posted.

Im not a regular poster in here (as you can probably tell!) but I will say this, dont let a thing like that spoilt a lovely town. These places are everywhere whether you agree with them or not or whether you notice them or not (i know which place your talking about and never noticed what it was until i saw this) it wouldnt have effected your visit if you didnt know so dont let it ruin what will hopefully be a lovely family day out now you do. By all means protest and spread awareness afterwards as obviously womens safety should be priority, just dont let it spoil your day. Its a lovely place and a lovely theatre and as people have said theres no reason for you to even walk past it so dont let it spoil your trip :)

Wow MrsClown waiting to hear what all East Europeans are like. The ones I know are hard working and intelligent. As an example one I know is supplementing her money by dancing while she studies to be an astrophysicist, another i know has worked hard for years and now owns 2 business parks in her home country and I believe she is working towards her third which means she can retire and live very comfortably. So yes I know that eastern europeans work hard and have plans if that is what you meant.

Astrophysicist

why naturally. I'd expect nothing less of a dancer.

Good for her (meant genuinely)

Was a very strange conversation once had in a strip bar when discussing Higgs Boson but have to say very stimulating.

I had the exact same conversation in Tescos once.

I went to Harrogate for the first time ever a few weeks ago and was quite shocked to see strip/'gentlemens' clubs on the High Street while were on our (short) way from the car park to the tea shop.
It seems that Harrogate is pandering to the many conference delegates who keep the town financially stable at the conference centre.
I guess these delegates are mostly male and in fact I recall my dad going away to Harrogate a lot on conferences in the 70's (shortly before having an affair, surely no connection).

Betty's tea shop is ACE though.

Hi, I am Mrs Clown but have changed to Mrs Clown 1 so I can comment from home.
Tony N - by eastern europeans I meant that they may have been trafficked.

I received the objection pack from Harrogate and the comments would make anyone sick. There was a review on a website of one of them and the comments were awful about the women.

Ahh - cant understand why you dont mind having the sex trade on your high street so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on that one. There are other jobs you can get without supporting the sex industry.

Anyone who doesnt already know. Please read the OBJECT website and the testimonials they have from ex strippers. Also, remember OBJECT (and I for that matter) do not have a financial interest in these places the companies who own the strip clubs do.

Actual Object does have a financial interest else it would not be a limited company. And having read the testimonals I could find double the number of women to speak positively about the industry. The fact that one of their keystone books is co-authored by a member of their campaign team might have you asking what are they earning. Fortunately they have to publish figures this year and a lot of people are looking forward to that. However of their testimonials only 2 could even be described as relevant and both worked in the more pressured LDCs rather than strip bars. And I am still for better reguation to protect the dancers.

The East Europeans I have met are either over here studying or trying to earn enough to change their lifestyles at home. Certainly of the 50 plus dancers I have met over the years from eastern europe never met one that was trafficked.

And knowing a lot about Object I always question everything they do. When they started they were for better regulation of the industry and I was all for that. Suddenly without annoucing anything they decide they want them closed and the industry driven underground. Nothing on th website saying they had changed direction or anything about why they had gone from protecting women and their right to work to abusing women and trying to lose them their jobs.

Not sure what website you are reading from certainly all the ones I know about say nothing that would upset anyone just a review of the location and a link to the LDC website.

Tony, you are totally wrong in your first statement. Many not-for-profit organisations are Companies Limited by Guarantee because you need to have a legal status in order to do things like employ staff, enter into contracts, have a bank account and apply for funding. Some are also registered charities and there are also Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs or SCIOs in Scotland) - a specific form of incorporation that only recently became available so organisations need not have dual company and charity registration.

Therefore, it's baloney to say that Object has a "financial interest." As a limited company, none of the directors are allowed to take profits. All members have a share to the value of £1. That's it, so get it right.

You say you know alot about Object, but you certainly don't know much about company law, so I seriously question whether you know much about Object then - other than you dislike the aims of their campaign, which is pretty obvious.

I think we know why Tony likes having the sex trade on his high street.

Well . . .