by Angela Cole

acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

Owners of a disused furniture store a few feet from Maidstone’s newly-opened Jubilee Square have applied to run a lap dancing and strip club there.

The application for a sex establishment licence for the former Loader and Payne store in Bank Street, which has been empty for at least six years, has been submitted to Maidstone council on Wednesday, June 20.

It asks for approval as a sexual entertainment venue open seven days a week from noon to 6am.

Owners want to hold lap dancing, pole dancing and strip tease shows upstairs, including private booths.

The application states there will be full nudity but no contact between clients and dancers.

It has prompted a warning from rival Players Gentlemen’s Club, which operates at the bottom of the High Street, that if the licence is granted it, too, will want to move further into the town centre.

The proposed venue’s location is a few feet from Maidstone council’s centrepiece of the £2 million High Street regeneration scheme – the Jubilee Square – which is also home to the historic Queen Victoria’s Monument.

Maidstone town centre manager Bill Moss said: “We already have a lap dancing club that is slightly off the town centre patch, if you like, at the bottom of the High Street.

“But this new application is in the heart of the town centre. I would question whether it is in the right place.”

He added that TCM board would debate whether to formally object due to its location.

A spokesman for Players said: “If they get their application passed then we should be allowed to move our operation into the centre of town; to somewhere a bit more visible.

“At the moment, we try and keep a really low profile but that might not be the case if this goes ahead.”

He added it had not been an intention to move, but might be forced to do so if there was direct competition further into town.

When Players was granted permission to continue in March, the council’s licensing committee called for a halt to similar venues in the area - but limited that to the lower High Street.

The application has been made by Century Building (Rochester) Ltd of North Eyot Gardens, west London, which wants to run a bar and cafe with dancing downstairs in the two-storey building.

Objections must be received by the council by Wednesday, July 18.