OWNERS of a York lap-dancing club above a York nightclub want to expand into its ground floor on racedays.

Upstairs VIP Ltd has applied to City of York Council to vary the licence for the sexual entertainment venue, which is situated above Mansion nightclub in Micklegate but police, councillors and neighbours have spoken out, ahead of a decision next week.

Upstairs wants lap dancing to be allowed until 5am instead of 3am seven days a week, and to be permitted in the ground floor bar area and front room on race days, when temporary booths would be installed. The club has also applied for a renewal of its existing consent.

Five local residents have objected to the variations, with one saying: "I do not like the idea of lap dancing being visible from the road because doors have been left open. School children may be walking past at 5pm."

Another claimed extended opening hours would mean the noise nuisance caused by patrons leaving would continue even later than at present.

A third claimed that naked dancers could clearly be seen from upper floor windows at his nearby home through transparent net curtains at the club, and allowing the lap dancing to move downstairs could only 'lower the tone' further and exacerbate problems.

>>>Mansion nightclub wins permission to stay open until 6am

North Yorkshire Police, which is opposing both variations, said that during a 'licensing compliance visit' on October 24, officers noted that not all the areas used for lap dancing were covered by CCTV, as was stipulated in a licensing condition.

It said CCTV was unable to be viewed and it was unknown which cameras, if any, were recording or working in compliance with the condition.

"The police consider the provision of CCTV within every booth necessary to protect the dancers should the customers breach the “customer code” rules and to ensure the no contact rules are enforced," said police licensing officer PC Deborah Cooper.

Micklegate councillors Julie Gunnell, Dave Merrett and Sandy Fraser have also objected, with Cllr Gunnell claiming there would be a detrimental impact on local residents and visitors.

"Micklegate is a growing residential and family area and already suffers from groups of people using it for hen and stag events, and I feel this would only add to the situation, causing more disruption for local residents," she said.

Club owner Andrew Whitney said the extension of opening hours would simply bring it into line with extended hours recently granted by licensing for Mansion, which operated in the basement.

He said he had been able to demonstrate that CCTV cameras were all fully compliant with conditions when licensing officials paid a visit last Friday night.

He added that opening up the bar area for lap dancing on York's busy race meeting days would reduce the problem of queueing by customers in the street.

The application will be considered by a City of York Council licensing panel at West Offices at 4pm next Monday.