Stuart Jessop acts for objector in central London sexual entertainment venue licence renewal hearing

March 27, 2019

Stuart Jessop, instructed by Woods Whur solicitors, recently represented the objector who opposed the renewal of the sexual entertainment venue licence for Platinum Lace. The hearing was before the licensing sub-Committee of Westminster City Council.

Stuart had previously successfully represented objectors in a similar application by the Windmill Club to renew its licence over a year ago.

The objector had hired private investigators to visit Platinum Lace on a date in 2018. They found that the premises were in breach of its licence conditions with dancers breaching the “no touching rule”. The licensing authority later examined CCTV for different days and found similar breaches.

Platinum Lace argued that the objectors were acting on behalf of a rival club and that the evidence of the investigators was unreliable. The licensing committee hearing the case rejected the argument that the evidence was untrue and issued a warning to the club that they took the allegations seriously, that such breaches were not trivial and would not be tolerated in the future.

The committee found that as the club also ran a similar premises nearby without any incident that they could not conclude that the licensee was not suitable to hold a licence. They stated that they took comfort from the fact that the licence would come up again for renewal in one year. Philip Kolvin QC acted for the club.