Desperate lapdancers are being forced to work in backroom bars and Airbnb’s to earn money as the adult entertainment industry remains closed.
A Sunday Mail investigation has uncovered unscrupulous firms supplying dancers for DIY strip parties and underground nights, risking both their safety and breaking Covid rules.
The Scottish Government has banned adult entertainment venues from opening under strict Covid restrictions but many of the 600 dancers in the industry have been left without any income.
Operators, mainly based outwith Scotland, have moved in to fill the void by organising private lap dancing events for paying punters north of the Border.
We were able to organise female strippers to be sent to fictitious hotel rooms for later this month – despite restrictions on indoor gatherings.
One firm said a deposit would be enough to guarantee a visit from a stripper to a Glasgow city-centre hotel location for a stag do.
Current restrictions for most of Scotland mean only six people from three households should be allowed to meet up indoors.
One dancer, based in Dundee, told how she had been repeatedly approached to work in private bookings after her industry shut down overnight last year.
She said: “Even though clubs have been shut, it’s still going on all over the place. The last time I was approached was for a job in a rented house, which looked like an Airbnb booking. I have no idea who the customers was or what they would be like.
“Fortunately I’ve had savings to fall back on. Other girls haven’t been so lucky. Many have told me they’ve had to go on the dole since the pandemic began. Most are self-employed and, if you haven’t been doing that for three years, there has been no support.
“These private parties have given them the chance to earn some money again. There’s no social distancing or mask wearing going on.
“And they’ve been doing them in hotel rooms, houses or even in backroom bars. But there is a safety issue.
“It’s not just from the girls catching Covid. They are working in an environment that if something goes wrong, like a customer gets angry, there will be no help. We get protection in clubs from security staff.
“I want clubs to open up again so we can earn a living safely. At the moment you have a legal industry, complete with families it supports, being forced to move into a seedy underground. And that is very dangerous for everyone involved.”
The strippers are being recruited via word-of-mouth recommendations made to the companies by desperate performers.
We booked a female stripper for a party in a city centre hotel room for June 19 via Cardiff-based Entertain-Ment. The firm’s £130 price included a 15 to 20-minute show and the choice of 18 local strippers.
The company’s website said they could host strip shows “pretty much anywhere you liked” including private houses, Airbnbs or hotels.
Another firm, Party Strip, who bill themselves as the UK’s leading stripper agency, said there would be no problem in organising an exotic dance for us in Glasgow after we made enquiries via text messages.
A man calling himself Martin said a £30 fee as well a further £100 would be needed to make the booking. When quizzed if it would be possible next weekend in a Glasgow hotel room, he said “yes and yes”.
But after we identified ourselves, Party Strip changed its tune. A spokesperson for the firm insisted all bookings were carried out outdoors, obeying rules.
A spokesman for the company said: “We do social distancing dances in the gardens and the strippers are masked up. We wouldn’t do it indoors in hotels or pubs.”
Entertain-Ment has been approached for comment.
Tony Cochrane, who owns a number of strip clubs and night clubs across Scotland, said: “This investigation is shocking, if not unsurprising. This has been our concern since the start of the pandemic.
“By not giving legitimate businesses like adult entertainment venues any chance of opening, it was always going to be the case that an underground, less regulated industry would spring up.
“If we had the opportunity to open up, we would be able to provide a safe and secure service for both the customers and the dancers. That applies to Covid rules such as Test and Trace but also guarantee their safety from predatory customers.
“Their safety is being put in danger by forcing them into this unregulated industry.”
Under the Scottish Government’s system, neither nightclubs or adult entertainment venues are allowed to open, even in Level 0.
But A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We do not underestimate the severe impact the pandemic is having on the events sector and we want all businesses to be able to plan effectively for a full reopening but we must continue to move very carefully to ensure continued suppression of Covid.
“We encourage people to access mainstream and specialist support services which are available to
anyone facing hardship.”
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