Sex in the Suburbs: The rise of lapdancing bars on the high street

In the past they were tucked away in a back alley because heaven forbid you were caught entering one.

But now in towns and cities in the Black Country and Staffordshire lapdancing clubs can be found in numbers.

And in them are a number of women who have left their homes in countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania for a life working in the high streets of the likes of Cannock or Walsall.

One boss of a Black Country strip club said girls from eastern Europe are willing to take a full-time job as a lapdancer compared to British women who he says see stripping as something to do on the side for extra cash.

The owner of a club, who we have agreed not to name, said people's views on the 'sleazy' and 'dirty' strip clubs date back to television programmes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Instead he says what goes on in the majority of sexual entertainment venues in the country is no worse than the scenes in a club in Ibiza.

Speaking to the Express & Star the strip bar big wig said: "Much of what people think happens in a lapdancing bar goes back to television of the 1970s and the 1980s. They think it is sleazy with dirty old men sat there in long coats perving on women.

"But these people haven't taken the opportunity to go into a bar like ours. They will see it is a place that is set up more like a nightclub. People can come in and have a drink and, yes, they can pay to have a dance, but that's their choice, but people aren't being bothered and they can watch a girl on podium."

He continued: "You can go to a night club and see a girl dancing on a podium. You see that sort of thing in clubs across Europe like Ibiza.

But when you see things going on in Ibiza with women removing their clothes, is that any worse than a strip club? We have some dancers who don't want to take off their clothes and they come and perform at our bar, it's not a problem."

When the Express & Star went undercover at The Bing Gentlemen's Club in West Bromwich our reporter was invited to touch one dancer but told there was strictly no sex inside the club.

The boss explained: "Of course the subject of sex is suggested to girls working in these bars.

"The subject of sex is suggested to women even walking down Broad Street in Birmingham where you have groups of men suggesting all sorts to someone on a night out. But that doesn't mean it goes on."

In recent years licence fees on sexual entertainment venues have increased considerably.

They had been licensed in a similar way to pubs but in 2011 The Government brought in tougher regulations following campaigns from women's rights groups.

The strip club owner said this has meant the industry has become more professional.

"If you have a big SUV car that costs £500 in car tax and you can't afford it, get rid of the car," he said. "The same is with the licence to run a strip club. Yes, it is more, but if you can afford then it's not a problem.

"What was happening before was that people were paying peanuts for a licence and their clubs were being run into the ground. Now we have to pay a couple of thousand pounds a year."

Strip club king pin Peter Stringfellow has claimed that bars, such as his, 'broke down' people's fear towards sex.

He accused people regulating the licences as being 'closed-minded' and those who fought to have tougher regulations on Sexual Entertainment Venues as being made up of 'moralists' and 'extreme feminists'.

While Stringfellow's argument may not be shared by the Black Country club owner, you sense there is an 'us and them' divide on society's attitude to strip clubs.

On his side, the bars are providing an alternative to night time entertainment spot which is trying to shake-off a misconception. While on the other side, from his view at least, there are those ready to lambast lap dance bars without stepping foot into one.

"If people want to see what our club is like without entering they can look at our website. I think they'd be surprised," he said.

The businessman revealed that there was a higher proportion of women in the lapdancing industry from eastern Europe because British women would use it has a second job.

He explained: "We have girls who work full time with us but most are from eastern Europe. About 10 years ago British women saw it that way too but now they tend to only work on a weekend and something for extra cash from their Monday to Friday job. A strip club can't survive on just a weekend and if there are women to work full time we'll take that.

"We do all the necessary checks to see if the girls are allowed to work but as for criminal checks we and the government are restricted on that. Of course if we get police information they can't work then that person has to go."

He insisted that strip clubs were a welcoming environment and that punters were safer having a drink there than in a local pub.

He added: "During the week nights we get a lot of people from out of town, people who are here on business.

"They go to a strip club because it's universal and everyone understands it. It's safer than them going to an unknown part of town and walking into your local pub. Could you imagine walking into the wrong pub in Glasgow? Here they won't get harassed in a strip club.

"They won't have people asking where they are from and why they haven't been seen before. They can get a quiet drink."

The businessman continued: "It's only at a weekend that you get people from the local area and they tend to be large groups and even then they are here to come and see a show not to cause trouble."