Local News

New titty bar to open

04/04/09 - 0 comments

Exeter will once again have a lap-dancing club unless the Echo manage to drum up some opposition. What the have against scantily clad young women we can only imagine.

EX4 in Fore Street is hoping to put up a couple of polls upstairs so they can get up to as many as 10 women gyrating and shaking their stuff for our amusement (and money), however the Echo seem to be trying their damnedest to find a way of putting the kibosh on it.

In their front page article (is there nothing more important going on than this) they say City Centre Manager John Harvey has concerns about the venture (although he hasn't been concerned enough to tweet about it).

They quote him as saying "I don't think this is something which is appropriate for the city centre" although we haven't seen that many families out enjoying the delights of EX4 of a Friday evening.

"I have anxieties that as we are seeking to create a city centre that is welcoming and family-focused this will not take us in the right direction."

The Echo have also paraded Rev. Andrew Sails from The Mint Methodist Church out to air his disapproval of the venture.

"Fore Street is used widely for social purposes and it has a good, family atmosphere. I would be very disappointed if the proposals were allowed to go through."

So getting people in to city to spend their hard earned money in Exeter is disappointing, and what is it about getting families to go drinking in the evenings?

The bar's owner, Ali Anvari, defends himself saying "It will be a well-run well managed establishment, with thousands of pounds worth of CCTV equipment." Add to that it will only be the upper floor of EX4 (we didn't even know there WAS an upper floor) and we really can't see what the problem is.

Unless the Echo can find someone who has a real reason to object to the application then there is nothing the council can do but accept the proposals without putting them before local councillors (oh joy, a committee!).

A council spokesman said "Only if we receive relevant representations will this matter be placed before a licensing sub-committee."

He did add that "Objections based on need or moral grounds are not relevant objections" so do-gooders and busy-bodies can keep it zipped.

Update
John Harvey has now come forward as being opposed to the EX4 expansion, not merely concerned. And for the record, our closing comments were not meant as a personal attack on Mr Harvey (or the Rev. Andrew Sails for that matter), but those who we so lovingly call 'the Mary Whitehouse brigade'.

Anyway, you can tell us what you think in our all new poll.

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