STRIPPERS could be sent packing from Henley’s lap-dancing club.

The owners have offered to shut Diamonds and Pearls in Greys Road car park if they are allowed to run a nightclub and wine bar in the building instead.

Leno Borg and Andy Mags’s licence was withdrawn in April after police revealed that 106 crimes were reported at the premises in two years.

The club was allowed to remain open pending an appeal, which is due to be heard in December.

Now Mr Borg has asked South Oxfordshire District Council’s licensing panel to shelve the hearing and for the licence to be reinstated with new conditions.


He said: “I am willing to stop the strip club tomorrow as long as we are allowed to trade as a nightclub.”

Mr Borg said he had been considering the idea following the furore that greeted the club when it opened in January 2009.

“Obviously there was a lot of negativity as people didn’t really want a strip club in their midst,” he said.

The owner said he wanted to re-open the first floor nightclub, formerly Latinos, and turn the downstairs lap-dancing club into a new wine bar for “more mature” adults.

He said: “There would be live music and maybe a DJ at the weekends playing chill-out music. It would be somewhere to go and relax. The upstairs would be a nightclub for the younger generation on Friday and Saturday nights.”

Mr Borg said that if the licensing panel didn’t take up the offer he and Mr Mags would have “no choice” but to carry on with their appeal or the club would have to close.

“We are offering a way out for everybody, the whole town, so that everyone is happy,” he said.

Former town councillor Barry Wood, who campaigned against the club even before it opened, welcomed the owners’ initiative. He said: “I support Leno’s venture wholly, totally and without reservation. My mission was to get rid of the strip club and I feel I have succeeded.

“But what we must not do is have a puritan town. We need to get our night-time economy buoyant with well-controlled and well-managed facilities.”

Mr Wood, who claimed the lap-dancing club would cause an increase in crime and disorder, said he would attend the opening night of the new club if it went ahead.

However, Henley Mayor Pam Phillips questioned whether crime at the premises would be reduced if a new licence was granted.

She said: “My major concern is whether they will adhere to what the requirements are for a new wine bar and nightclub.

“Whatever they are doing, they may attract the same clientele who were responsible for a lot of the crime.”

The licensing panel heard evidence of drug-taking, prostitution and assaults by staff on customers at Diamonds and Pearls.

Offences included 18 assaults, nine incidents involving drugs, 12 cases of fraud, six thefts, one affray and a rape. Mr Borg said a nightclub was good for Henley’s economy and claimed that the town was currently “dying a death” in the evenings.

“A nightclub gives people somewhere to go,” he said.

When the lap-dancing club opened, Mr Wood — then a councillor — threatened to hold a protest march unless the district council reversed its decision to grant the licence.

At the time, he said: “It will encourage undesirable people and the seedier elements of life into the town. I’m not a prude or a puritan — I have been to strip clubs and enjoyed them — but I don’t want my face rubbed in it.”

Mr Mags replied: “It is not like places you get in Soho. Yobs won’t be able to afford to come in and there will be security on the door who won’t let anybody in unless they are dressed smartly.”

A spokesman for the district council confirmed it had received Mr Borg and Mr Mags’ written request and said this would be given “careful consideration”.

lA 39-year-old man arrested in connection with the alleged rape of a 30-year-old woman at the club in November is due to answer bail on Monday.

Published 12/09/11