Agenda item

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory presents an application for the Renewal of a Sex Establishment Licence for Whiskey Down, First & Second Floors, 25 Crown Street, Leeds, LS2 7DA

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory requested Member’s consideration for the renewal of a sex establishment licence for the provision of sexual entertainment in the form of lap dancing. The application was made by Tokyo Industries Ultimate Limited for a premises to operate under the name of Whiskey Down, First and Second Floors, 25 Crown Street, Leeds, LS2 7DA.

Present at the meeting on behalf of Whiskey Down were:

·  Marcus Bentley – Manager

·  Aaron Mellor – Managing Director

The Legal Officer outlined the procedure for the meeting. It was noted that there were only two Members of the Licensing Sub Committee, as the third Member was unfortunately ill. All parties were happy to proceed with two Members.

The Licensing Officer provided the following information:

·  A copy of the licence was appended to the submitted report at Appendix A

·  The hours of operation are:

o  22.00hrs until 04.00hrs Sunday to Thursday

o  22.00hrs until 05.00hrs Friday and Saturday

·  A copy of the redacted application was attached at Appendix B

·  Additional documents supplied with the application were appended at Appendix C and included:

o  Dancers Welfare Policy

o  Dancers Code of Conduct

o  Customers Code of Conduct

o  Pricing Policy

·  Members were also requested to consider the external appearance and all methods of advertising. Attached at Appendix D were images showing the external appearance of the premises.

·  A map showing the location of the premises was attached at Appendix E.

·  Standard Conditions as set out in the current policy were appended to the submitted report at Appendix G

Mr Mellor provided the Sub Committee Members with further pictures showing the inside of Whiskey Down and gave a brief background to the history of the venue.

Mr Mellor said that the building had previously been the Town House but had opened in 2017 as Whiskey Down. There had been no issues since opening.

The name is Whiskey Down with an ‘E’ as in the American spelling for bourbon. Whiskey Down is not the usual gentlemen’s club/ strip club their aim was to create a new image for sexual entertainment venues. The club is fully inclusive and has both men and women as customers and is also LGBT friendly.

Many of the attendants are female. There are performances of ‘burlesque dance’ with the establishment looking to be a high-end gentleman’s club serving quality cocktails and champagne.

Member’s discussions included:

·  No objections from the responsible authorities

·  No issues reported

·  Establishment seemed to be well managed

RESOLVED – To grant the renewal as applied for.