Hooters in Newcastle

[cosysocks]

I'm quite nervous posting here as you wonderful women seem to be a lot more articulate than I am. So as the title suggests Hooters are trying to open a branch in Newcastle, this disappoints me so much. However I don't feel able to concisely say why apart from I feel it is blatant sexism and belittles women to nothing more than breast and a pretty face. Is there anything that can be done do you reckon? www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-could-set-hooters-bar-8178710

Yuk yuk yuk. Not very articulate, sorry, but that is my immediate reaction!

I think apart from what you said, maybe part of the reason is that the whole concept is so blatantly pandering to (a certain type of) men, and yet trying to make out that this is entirely normal, wholesome and family-friendly. Like it doesn't matter at all what the women who go there (or don't want to go there) might think, and they can just give the kids a smile-and-a-pat-on-the-head to keep them happy, but oh yes we must give those all-important men something to lech at....

Maybe also because it feeds into that sense of entitlement that that sort of men seem to have - that it is their right to be able to see tits'n'ass whenever they feel like it (and regardless of how their wives/the girls/anyone else feels about it), being as they are masters of the universe and all that?

Hmm. I'm pretty sure there is a way to comment on licensing applications though I don't know what the process is.

“Hooters is proud of the more than 300,000 Hooters alumnae who have grown into their own lives as mothers, wives, career-minded businesswomen and entrepreneurs, many becoming doctors, lawyers, authors, government officials and community leaders.”

Vom. That's basically like saying they're prostitutes, isn't it? Unlike normal waitresses who go on to do all those things and no one needs remark on it, because waitressing is just a job you do when you're young? But by saying that, they're making it clear that the women who work there AREN'T just waitresses. Even though they are. I'm tying myself in knots here but I find that comment so repellent. Maybe it's the suggestion that they aren't too sullied to marry?

"and belittles women to nothing more than breast and a pretty face"

And do the women who work at Hooters agree? While everyone has their opinion, I think the opinion of those who work there matters more than those who don't.

I think this pic speaks for itself

Is Hooters classed as a sexual entertainment venue? Newcastle has a nil cap on those (barring the ones already there), I think.

Go on then rissepuc, what does that pic say to you?

Thanks OP.

Here is a link to the licensing application.

Apparently you can use the Comments tab to leave comments / objections etc

"Comments

You can view all comments submitted against this application by members of the public. You can also submit a comment of your own in support of or objecting to the application."

Does anyone want to help with a few well-chosen and succint comments that the OP and I could use in our objections?

By the way I meant the application is open for consultation and so has not been approved yet - so there is still time to do something about it.

But :

You can make a comment supporting or objecting to this Licence application. Your comment will be submitted to the Licensing Authority for validation. Please be aware that failure to inform the Local Authority to the contrary your details will be made available for public consumption.

I don't think I trust them not to publish my details online. And we all know what to expect for challenging this kind of thing! I shall write to them by old-fashioned post instead.

My partner and colleagues ended up at a Hooters in America as the only place to eat in the area, and were just going wtf??

I think to object to it in the UK, would have to argue that either the wait staff are fulfilling waiting duties, in which case it would be illegal not to let men apply, OR the waitresses and their skimpy outfits are considered to be part of the entertainment, in which case it's not a suitable business for children to be admitted. They can't have it both ways. (the US generally doesn't have law against sexual discrimination).

thanks notcitrus

There was a thing about Hooters in the US a couple of years back it was grim viewing. Back to the floor? Maybe, not sure, it was ages ago.

Maybe contact Object? They have lots of experience of this sort of thing.

It is a lon time since I have been out in my home city, but there used to be a fair few bars where the uniform for men was shorts, and women wore bikinis. That makes Hooters look incredibly covered up!

I do think that Hooters is incredibly horrible though.

I love hooters, the food is cheap, the people nice :-)

There's a Hooters in Nottingham which I have driven past a few times and I know a couple of men who frequented it, they said it was a bit sad in there. I asked why they went and they said it is good as a sports bar and peer pressure led them in there. It's not somewhere they would go again.

I used to know a lot of the girls who worked at Hooters in Nottingham, good friends who I am still in touch with today. Those jobs are pretty sought after to be honest, or used to be and it's VERY popular. I actually think it will work in Newcastle too. I believe they tried a branch in London and it failed miserably.

The managers of that place on the other hand were about as sleazy as it's possible to be (I met some of the American ones too). Very ordinary men who thought they were something special as they had all these beautiful girls to boss around.

I think part of the reason it works well in Nottingham is there is a huge ice hockey stadium and fan base there and they link up a lot with Hooters.

There is one near me, it's billed as a family restaurant. There is something so grim about having a kid's birthday party in an establishment like that. Not to mention seeing children wearing the t shirts.

Bloody hell! Are they still trying to get the breastaurant concept off the ground? Wasn't there a successful campaign in Bristol to get a proposed one there banned?

The one in Bristol is gone. I think it went bust though rather than banned. There was a big campaign about it so may be it did have some effect!

You all want to ban Hooters, but isn't that "victim blaming" (that concept you all preach about so much)?

Shouldn't women (including waitresses) be able to wear whatever they want, instead of feminists telling them things like "you're wearing too little! you are contributing to rape culture!!"

Hooters is not responsible for rape (which I assume is what you're getting at), rapists are responsible for rape.

There are strip clubs in Newcastle so I think Hooters is pretty tame compared.

The Bristol Hooters is definitely bust.

I feel as though I've been invaded by the body of Benny Hill.

Oh don't be ridiculous. Nobody has said anything of the sort, but if they had it would have been aimed at the owners anyway (who decide the "uniform", after all), not the women who work there. And the women working there specifically don't get to choose what they want to wear, if they want the job.

I'm with you on the last bit, though!

(Sorry that was to yoffwoba...x-posted with the others)