Aberdeen strip club denied bouncer request over dancer safety fears

An Aberdeen strip club has had its request to have just one bouncer on during weeknights refused over fears the change could put dancers at risk of harm.

The owners of Bugsy Brown's on Windmill Brae had asked for two tweaks to its sexual entertainment licence.

They wanted to cut their security staff from two to one during “extremely quiet” weekday evenings where they can see between six to ten customers on average.

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But, the venue would continue to have the standard two bouncers on busier Friday and Saturday nights, where they welcome up to 40 guests.

The matter went before the council’s licensing committee recently. Speaking on behalf of the club, solicitor Neil Fraser argued that the venue was “very compact”.

He explained: “Essentially security staff in that door entrance area are on the floor of the premises anyway. If there are door staff that are just inside the premises then effectively they are providing security on the floor at the same time, or the reverse.”

But Mr Fraser told the committee that the club’s low attendance figures were behind the request and suggested the venue had an “overprovision” of security.

He added: “The customer base here is not in the 18 to 25 category where perhaps we would be a bit more concerned about provision of large numbers of staff. It’s a very well-run premises of mature clientele in general.”

But the police objected as they believed it would go against licensing rules which aim to prevent crime, disorder and public nuisance, and importantly, keep everyone safe.

PC Gary Forbes revealed the club owners wanted just one member of security staff at the club from Sunday through to Thursday. However, he believed granting the change would put the safety of dancers at risk.

He also believed other strip clubs in the city would try and ask for the same changes. Police were also opposed to the change as it went against the standard licensing conditions set by Aberdeen City Council.

Councillor Ken McLeod also raised his concern for the dancers. “If security staff were called to an incident within the premises, the entrance to the club would then be free, there would be nobody monitoring anybody coming in,” he said.

“Let’s take a scenario where 20 people decided to go on a Tuesday. You’ve got one member of staff who’s monitoring the door, you’ve got nobody inside the premises and vice versa.”

But Mr Fraser was confident that wouldn’t be the case. He responded: “My client would be delighted if that level of custom showed up but it doesn’t, hence the variation application.”

Following debate, the committee unanimously agreed to refuse the licence change.