Plans for a £150,000 strip club in Medway’s biggest nightspot were approved today despite residents’ fears.

Councillors rubber-stamped the controversial plans for Rochester’s Casino Rooms, left, at a two-hour meeting.

Club owner Aaron Stone and Historic Rochester Residents’ Association chairman Philip Ruby argued whether the strip club, Tenshi, would bring down the tone of the High Street.

Mr Stone’s lawyer, Stephen Thomas, claimed the businessman had run sexual entertainment in the Casino Rooms almost every weekend since he took it over in 1992.

The law is changing in April, when venues across Britain will need separate licences to run strip shows.

Mr Thomas told councillors: “We will only advertise on the internet. No-one in Rochester High Street will necessarily know what’s going on, just as they haven’t for the last 19 years.”

The licence is the second to be granted in Medway after Charlotte’s Bar, just a few yards away in Rochester High Street.

Mr Ruby said: “One within a third of a mile is enough. This isn’t a cafe society, it’s young people getting ‘pre-loaded’ and coming down to get cheap alcohol.”

The club will take up half the ground floor of the Casino Rooms, use a separate entrance and punters will be watched constantly on at least 18 CCTV cameras.

There will be four lap-dancing booths, a VIP area with one pole and a stage with another. Conversion work is expected to take a month.

Full report of the meeting and detailed plans in the Medway Messenger, out Friday.