Lap dancing club to be allowed to stay open until 6am

Norwich City Council's licensing committee unanimously agreed to extend applicant Petrit Vladi’s licence for the Pure Gold lap dancing club in Norwich’s Prince of Wales Road.

It means the club can remain open until 6am every day, rather than the current 4am closing time.

However, people will not be allowed to enter the club after 3.45am, which is also the time when the serving of alcoholic drinks must end.

Licensing consultant Rob Edge, on behalf of Mr Vladi, said the intention was that people who were already in the club could remain there for longer.

He said the venue had not prompted any concerns from the authorities.

He said: “This is because it is well-run and has always shown due diligence in everything it does to uphold the licensing objectives.”

No objections to the extension were raised by Norfolk police or environmental health officers at City Hall.

However, there were a number of objections from people living in the St Faith’s Lane area.

They said music and customers leaving at 4am meant they already suffered from loss of sleep, which would be even worse if the closing time was allowed to be extended to 6am.

Green councillors Ash Haynes and Lesley Grahame, who represent Thorpe Hamlet, had also objected.

Lesley Grahame, Green Party councillor for Thorpe Hamlet. Pic: Green Party. (Image: Green Party)

Ms Grahame said: “Residents get little enough sleep anyway and the extra noise and hassle between 4am and 6am makes all the difference between the noise you would expect living in this part of the city centre and being a public nuisance.”

Mr Edge said the applicant did not want to annoy neighbours and was “robust” about the way he ran the club.

The club agreed to conditions to limit the number of people using its smoking area and to make a phone number available for people who did want to raise concerns.

It also agreed a condition not to let customers 'stockpile' drinks before the 3.45am cut-off point for serving alcohol.