Take Action

Secrets Strip Joints

The Secrets chain has a long history of wrong doing (GBH, credit card fraud and more). At last year’s licensing hearing, we believe, the chain owner committed an offence by lying to the council over this. And Camden council refused to consider the information we had compiled on the chain (from their own prior licensing hearings).

It now wants to relicense two of its clubs! Please take action below

Deadline FRI 20 NOV

[sorry for short deadline – we only happened to hear of this by chance]

Links to Object

Object to Secrets Parker Street here

Object to Secrets Grays Inn Rd here

Click ‘Make a Representation Form’ at bottom of each page

Text to Use

Copy and paste the text below into the form. Please also (or only) include any experiences you have of the strip industry:

UNFIT LICENSE HOLDER & THE CRITERIA LISTED ABOVE:

At the last licensing hearing for this chain, Not Buying It, exposed that the applicant is unfit due to the long list of breaches at the Secrets chain, particularly Secrets Eversholt Rd (now ‘Sophisticats’ but still trading under a Secrets name).

UNFIT LICENSE HOLDER:

At last year’s licensing hearing the applicant appeared to lie to the council – this is unlawful. And this has been raised with the council for investigation. He stated there ‘have never been any serious incidences’ at any of his clubs. At a second hearing he then stated he had looked through all relevant minutes and still found no breaches.

However, the Secrets Eversholt branch had had numerous police and trading standard reports of serious incidences. This was in report packs and in minutes of Council meetings. It included the police working closely with the applicant ‘to resolve issues’.

How could the applicant have been ‘unaware of any incidences’?

UNFIT LICENSING HEARINGS / LIABLE TO LEGAL CHALLENGE:

This also exposes serious flaws in the licensing hearings themselves as the committee were totally unaware of these serious incidences (which included GBH and financial fraud). They also refused to consider the information we had collated from their own report on these incidences, even though the hearing was deferred and there was amble opportunity for both the committee and applicant to consider this (in fact the applicant took it upon himself to do just that but still appeared to find nothing in minutes relating to wrong doing at his club/clubs).

UNFIT LICENSE HOLDER/ EXTREME LEVELS OF DEBT/ PREVENTION OF CRIME & DISORDER

The license holder also appears to carry extreme levels of debts, amounting to £millions, in the many holding accounts for the various strip chains he operates.

PREVENTION OF CRIME & DISORDER/PUBLIC SAFETY/PUBLIC NUISANCE:

There is insurmountable evidence that SEVs CANNOT be regulated. Camden’s catastrophic failure to regulate has been exposed by the police and trading standards at Red Rooms and Secrets/Sophisticats and by Not Buying It at Rhino and Parkers (which is operating as a brothel).

BREACH OF EQUALITY LAW/ LIABLE TO LEGAL CHALLENGE

Further, you cannot abide by EQUALITY LAW when licensing SEVs – this MUST be satisfied in all licensing decisions. This includes the unfit training, information and advice that appears to be given to the licensing subcommittee (often coming directly from industry advocates or legal experts who also represent the industry), a total lack of understanding of how the industry really operates and meaningless regulatory measures.

It should also be noted that your EIA (Equality Impact Assessment) is absolutely inadequate – as some of the committee have themselves have pointed out – again a breach of EQUALITY LAW.

It is extraordinarily easy to shut an SEV on the grounds of INAPPROPRIATE LOCALITY which the committee has full discretion to do. This SEV, like all your others, is in an inappropriate locality, according to your own policy. SEVs have no legal recourse to challenge such a decision (closure on these grounds has never been successfully challenged in court by an SEV).

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