Edinburgh strip club told to provide 'private space' for performers to change

An Edinburgh strip club has been told to complete works to ensure performers have a private and secure space to change as a condition of being granted a licence renewal.

The three strip clubs in the city had their licences up for renewal at a meeting on Monday, where two passed without any objections.

However, the council’s licensing department raised concerns about a requirement in the Western Bar’s last licence, which required it to take steps to update its venue.

According to the sexual entertainment venue licence requirements in Edinburgh, workers need to be provided with certain facilities while working on site.

They include a requirement that “performers shall be provided with unrestricted access to secure and private changing facilities”, and that these be not accessible to the public.

When the Western Bar applied for its licence in 2024, it did not meet this requirement – but was granted it under the condition that it undertook works to meet the licence conditions.

However, according to the venue’s representatives, they had difficulty getting the necessary building warrants for the renovations.

Their first attempt to get a building warrant in September 2024 failed, with the firm returning with amended drawings in June.

However, as of Monday’s meeting, a building warrant had still not been issued for the renovation works.

A representative for the design firm working with the venue said much of the hold-up was linked to the building officer they were working with retiring.

He said that they had since found a new one, and expected to have them by the premises by December.

While addressing councillors, he stopped briefly to hold up the blueprints of the bar, pointing on it to show where the works would take place.

Councillors granted the venue permission to stay open without the condition met for another year, on the understanding that renovations would be able to take place soon.

Liberal Democrat councillor Neil Ross said: “I do not see that we have any guidance to suggest that we shouldn’t proceed on the renewal with the same exemption from that condition, assuming the work is able to go ahead, and therefore see completion within the time of next year’s licence.”

Committee convener and Conservative councillor Joanna Mowat said: “It’s a shame that the work hasn’t been completed, but it does seem there is some progress being made here.

“So I think with that indication, I would be happy to recommend that same suspension of that condition.

“But again, ‘as soon as possible’ is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting here.”

Burke and Hare and Baby Dolls, the other two strip clubs in the Capital, were granted licences after receiving no objections.

Licences for strip clubs are granted on a yearly basis, with the three granted in 2024 coming after a failed attempt by the council to ban the venues.

In 2022, it tried to limit the number of strip clubs legally allowed in the city to zero, under powers that had been recently granted to councils by the Scottish Government.

But after an appeal by a trade union representing performers in Edinburgh venues, a court found that the council’s attempted ban was illegal.

After this, the city decided to set the cap at three strip clubs – the number trading in the city at that time – and introduce a licensing policy for them.