'Don't put strip club near homes'
| Posted: February 06, 2012
TABLE dancing clubs should not be sited near residential areas, a Swansea rector has said.
A club featuring table dancing and fully nude performances is planned for a venue next to a city baptist chapel.
Bellissima, which could open on York Street by mid-April, has already been criticised by the pastor of the York Place Baptist Chapel.
Pastor Haydn Dennis said it would be an affront to God and the total opposite of what the Bible teaches.
Now, Father Simon of St Mary's Church in the city centre has said venues such as Bellissima should not open near a residential area.
Father Griffiths has led the congregation at St Mary's for the past five months and formerly worked for a church situated close to a sex shop in Sheffield.
He said: "I suppose it is a sign of the times. I have come from the city centre in Sheffield where the general opinion was that if these places had to exist they are better out of a residential area. The issues here are much the same as they were in Sheffield."
Bellissima is due to open in the former Jager bar in York Street — a stone's throw from homes in Swansea Marina — which closed towards the end of last year.
It will be the first venture of Thomas Bellis Leisure which has been created by former Jager bar security guard David Bellis and his business partner Paul Thomas who has run clubs in Bridgend.
Swansea Council has already granted a planning application for a change of use of the premises from a bar to a dance venue.
The local authority has received an application for a sex entertainment licence for the venue.
Mr Thomas said: "The external appearance of the premises will have considerably less prominence than any of the bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues — including Aspers casino which is sited similarly around York Place Baptist Chapel."
rupert.hall@swwmedia.co.uk
Comments
It's about as far from residences as anywhere in Swansea.
How does Pastor Dennis know that God thinks the propsed bar would be an affront? Has he been contacted? God may think it's an excellent idea - lets get back to how Adam & Eve presented themselves in the garden of Eden prior to munching on the forbidden fruit!! Are we sure that Father Griffiths has actually visited Swansea yet - he would surely have spotted that the proposed bar is nowhere near a residential area
This bar is clearly located in a non-residential area, as it's surrounded by not only a church, but a car garage, Wind St, Little Wind St, a cinema and a casino! How less residential does it need to be!
The Bible™ teaches its followers to stone women to death for all sorts of activities they find distasteful. Numbers 5:22 however talks about an alternative and similarly abhorrent punishment: a painful miscarriage resulting in the loss of a leg. How does this insanity take precedence over a couple of harmless strippers?
A stones throw from the Marina??? He must have a hell of an arm on him!! Its like a 15 minute walk!!!