Police are opposing plans for a city centre lap dancing club to reopen with much later hours - fearing it could attract the 'high risk' clientele it did under previous owners.
Greater Manchester Police said that under ex-owners the Lloyd Street nightspot - previously known as Silks - were twice pulled in front of town hall panels over ‘extreme violence’.
In council papers published this week, a GMP officer said he was concerned about previous incidents at the venue, one of which included a fight involving metal bars on the club’s doorstep.
"This shows that, although the applicants had nothing to do with the previous operation of the premises, it has the ability to attract clientele who bring a high level of risk with them," the papers read.
Asking for the licence variation to be refused, he added: “GMP have strong concerns that if this variation was granted there is a very real likelihood that issues would occur at the premises and the licensing objectives would be undermined.”
The town hall’s out-of-hours team has also objected to the club’s licence being extended.
In papers sent this week to the council, the team said drunk or noisy visitors could cause a ‘public nuisance’ if they leave the club at 6.30am, when people are likely to be making their way to work in the morning.
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They added that extending the hours while removing other conditions from the licence suggested the new operators ‘may not have a clear understanding of the council’s licensing objectives’.
Representatives from the Women’s Equality Party - which has been opposing a number of strip clubs in the city in recent months - have also said they are against the application being granted.
The venue still holds a licence, but is currently closed.
New operators want to re-brand the club as ‘Whiskey Down’ and are asking to extend the licence’s existing opening hours each night by two hours - meaning they would close at 6.30 each morning.
They also want to extend their alcohol licence until 6.00am and are asking for other ‘outdated’ conditions to be removed - although it’s not clear what these are.
A Whiskey Down has a club in in Leeds, where it brands itself as an ‘upmarket gentleman’s club’.
The application was due to be discussed on Thursday, but was deferred.
A representative for Whiskey Down said bosses had been in ‘reasonably successful’ negotiations with the GMP and the council about ‘whittling down’ points of objection.
Whiskey Down has been contacted for comment on GMP's concerns.
