Lap-dancing club will wait to hear fate (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Why does the Richmond and Twickenham Times persist with a prominent picture of this establishment on the front page of their site even though it not a headline item. It has been there for several days. Are you not providing free advertising for an establishment that residents don't want in this area? Surely there are more interesting "Good News" things going on in the borough during this festive period that should occupy this space. I'm sure the proprietor is very happy with the coverage he is getting. In their industry even bad press is good press.

The existence of this club has always been viewed as unacceptable by the good people of Twickenham. Its main trade - the purchasing of a lap dance, performed by a naked woman - a sex-encounter by any standards – seems now to have been (allegedly) extended to cocaine use. What next will we be asked to accept as part of “the norm” in our local “close to home” environment? Does everything in life really have to be reduced to the lowest common denominator – sex, drugs, seedy men and wearily writhing tarts? Is there no space for beauty, sincerity and dignity in our midst? Is this where our councillors really see the locality heading? I hope not.
The Piano Lounge in no way represents the local culture as I know it to be. It is an alien presence in our midst and by all accounts has clearly demonstrated is potential for corruption and vice. The time has come to close it down and give Twickenham back to the residents. They have been patient enough and want their town back. Twickenham is not a red light district in the making, nor have the locals ever tolerated the pushing of drugs (all praise to the police in their efforts to enforce the law in the face of this evil). The Piano Lounge lap-dancing club speaks of a gutter based culture inhabited by people who have long ago lost their way. It is a “do anything for money” way of life that points towards a never ending circle of futility. Twickenham does not have to “go there with them”. If the local council renews this licence it will have put a lasting seal of decay and long term destruction on Twickenham, a town whose who inhabitants deserve so much better. Give us back the quiet normality of yesteryear so fondly remembered by the writer. Give us back the town where Amelie de la Grange could have walked across the green on a balmy summer’s night without being so brutally murdered. Give us back the town that was never a magnet for the kind of men who objectify women and think it’s normal to pay them to take their clothes off in public. Give us back the town where the women had not become so dead to any sense of their own self worth that they could actually make themselves do this for money (not love) on an ongoing basis. Give us back the town where money was not “king” and love did actually get a look in. Local councillors, licensing committee – enough is enough. Close the Piano Lounge down!

May I also take the opportunity to say how very concerned I was by comments made in the previous discussion about the Piano Lounge lap-dancing club (3rd December). The participants of this discussion clearly indicate that numerous brothels are operating in our borough. Whitton is named as one location where this is occurring, and it is inferred that pubs in Twickenham are operating in a very dubious way regarding drugs etc. I urge that the police enforce the law urgently. We can see in neighbouring boroughs that when this kind of activity is allowed to take root it very quickly grows into full blown people trafficking with international connections. I commend this to police attention.