Controlling lap dancing

How many such clubs are there?
When New Labour came to power, there were just a handful, usually confined to inner-city fleshpots; today there are more than 300, flourishing in such unlikely provincial locations as Leamington Spa and Stourbridge. And for that, many blame the 2003 Licensing Act which, as well as introducing 24-hour drinking, made lapdancing clubs outside London as easy to open as pubs or cafes. Before that, along with sex shops and porn cinemas, they had to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments under the 1982 Local Government Act, which gives residents and local councils the right to oppose their opening; but under the new law the only people entitled to object to a licence for a new lap-dancing club are those living within 200m.

Where did the idea of lap-dancing clubs originate?
Unsurprisingly, in America. The first club to offer table-dancing - where strippers dance by the client's table, not just on a stage - opened in Florida in 1972. But the idea of lap-dancing really took off in the 1980s when O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco allowed dancers to sit naked in customers' laps for tips. Club-owners liked it because it brought in more punters and because it meant they had to pay less to the dancers. In the 1990s, 'VIP' rooms were introduced - private cubicles or curtained-off areas where, for a fixed fee, services on offer could include complimentary champagne and fully-nude 'intimate dancing', with 'bed dances' also available. There are now over 3,000 such clubs in America, the degree of sexual contact varying with club rules and local law enforcement - from none at all to surreptitious touching to 'full contact', and even actual prostitution.

And when did lap-dancing take root in Britain?
The first lap-dance club, For Your Eyes Only, opened in Park Royal, west London, in 1995. Soon it was making as much profit as five average-sized pubs, and imitators spread rapidly across the UK, offering dances of varying levels of nudity (typically starting at £10-20), at tables, in private booths and VIP areas. Licensing agreements established as standard practice the rule that dancers must not touch the customer with any part of the body, aside from the customer placing money in the dancer's G-string. The