Update: The Plans for the Skegness SkyPier have been approved pretty much as described below. February 2010.
New plans have been submitted to East Lindsey District Council regarding FAT LOUIS, GRAND PARADE, SKEGNESS, PE25 2UG.
From the Details of Planning Application – S/153/02562/08
Plans can be found online at
http://www.eldc.gov.uk/planning/AcolNetCGI.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=100344
Planning Permission – Erection of a 4 storey building which includes a basement level which provides 2 dance bars, DJ. Podium and toilet facilities, a bar with a dancefloor and a food hall/court to be used within Use Classes A3 and A5 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) on the upper ground floor, a club and 2 no. bars on the first floor with the provision of a balcony, and leisure facilities consisting of ice skating rink, roller disco area, internet cafe and cafe all on the 2nd floor with balcony on the site of a former hotel which has been burnt down in accordance with amended plans received by the Local Planning Authority from the applicant’s agent on 26th October 2009.
I had a look at the new Sky Pier plans and think the building fits in well with the surrounding area. Now we have the Lucky Strike Arcade which is a modern building, the look of the proposed Sky Pier makes sense (also matches the Skegness Embassy Theater design).
From a discussion called “Plans for Grand Parade Complex Site” one of the owners of the Grand Parade site (Taj Bola) has provided more details of the proposed plans for the Grand Parade Complex Site (to be named The Sky Pier) including a list of facilities.
Proposed Sky Pier Facilities
Roller Disco.
Ice-skating Rink (subject to funding support from ELDC).
Food Court
Cyber Cafe with a Virtual Reality Centre.
Busters Bar.
Tokyo Cocktail Bar.
Retro Cactus Bar.
Dance Bar.
Gentleman’s Club to replace the former Dezire pole-dancing club.
Upon first reading of the plans I thought brilliant, something for families and young people, I can see myself happily breaking a bone or two trying to learn to ice skate! Even posted a congratulatory post on the forum about the plans before realising what a gentleman’s club is.
Call me naive but my mind jumped to World War II veterans when I think gentleman’s club, old men smoking pipes and drinking bitter :) I don’t think half naked women. It took three pages of forum discussions (mostly positive) before someone pointed out the gentleman’s club is adult entertainment (so I’m apparently not the only naive person in Skeg :)).
I hope ELDC planners are aware of the “gentleman’s club” (lap dancing/pole dancing) planned on the Grand Parade Complex site as there’s no mention of that type of establishment on the submitted plans for the Sky Pier?
The only mention is of “a club” which I assume is referencing where the pole dancing and lap dancing club will be.
On the forum Taj Bola also went on to say after being questioned about the Gentleman’s Club:
Q) A Gentlemans Club in the same building as the ice rink.
A) The club is located on a completely separate floor and discretely to the rear of the building. Also, I envisage the leisure facilities will operate from say 10am to 10pm. The Gentlemans club will operate in the evenings after 10pm, so when one looks at the hours of operation, its clear to see that there is no overlap and it thus becomes a non issue.ELDC would be supporting the operation of the Ice Rink and not the construction of the building.
Q) Why another Gentlemans Club, there is one already
A) This is no criticism of the owners of the current one, however, it is not the type of venue that tourists that visit these places would actually go back and tell their friends about, Given my long term strategy of increasing tourism in a balanced way, we need a venue that again stands out from anything else in Lincolnshire. Be it a Gentlemans Club, Bar, Ice Rink etc.For too long, operators have failed to invest on the basis that, why reinvest?, the customers have nowhere else to go when they get here. This is a short sighted approach that would ultimately lead to the demise of any resort.
Skegness has to have the image that we are moving forward and that it has the best of everything. Once the new Gentleman’s Club is open I envisage a consolidation of these clubs.
Q) Why Not put it at LA?
A) Hopefully I have something more interesting planned for LA in the future once the Skypier is up and running. Can’t say much at the moment, but again, something to increase tourism.
I don’t have a issue with adult entertainment per se, I used to run a successful online adult business selling adult sex toys and sexy lingerie, but I do have a big problem with mixing adult entertainment (lap dancing and pole dancing) with family entertainment (ice and roller skating), it should never be in the same building. It would have been like selling children’s toys along with adult toys on my online stores!
If this was plans to convert the Skegness LA Cafe Bar (also owned by the Bola’s) to a lap dancing club after the Sky Pier was built (with no lap dancing club), this would make some sense (I personally don’t like lap dancing clubs, but others do, so there’s a ‘need’ for them). The Sky Pier has multiple new bars which will take business away from the Skegness LA Cafe Bar and so turning it into adult entertainment only makes business sense.
I assume there will be no legal requirement on the opening hours (please someone correct me if I’m wrong) of the various areas of the Sky Pier not to clash in a way resulting in an ice rink/roller skating area filled with teenage girls while men are in the same building participating (or waiting to participate) in sexual acts.
The proposed opening times for the lap dancing club don’t make business sense, Flirtz Lap Dancing Club is open from 9pm to 3am, by opening later (10pm) the Sky Pier lap dancing club looses valuable business to Flirtz. I can’t see serious business men like the Bola’s sticking to those times for long when they are loosing business.
Even if the 10pm opening/closing times are strictly adhered to, what about those waiting to enter the adult club and those leaving the roller skating/ice skating areas as 10pm approaches, there would need to be a buffer zone to clear the area of young people and families.
There won’t be separate entry points for the four floors of the Sky Pier and as the bars will be open way before 10pm, drunk people will be intermingling with families early in the evening as they both use the facilities at the same times. If I had teenage daughters I wouldn’t want them using a lift with drunk men!
I would like to know what sort of research (if any) was carried out to determine the feasibility of mixing family friendly facilities with adult entertainment? Are there examples of similar buildings with lap dancing clubs and family friendly entertainment where there are no problems?
ELDC would have to be retarded to agree to support an ice rink in the same building as lap and pole dancing no matter what the intentions of the owners are regarding opening hours, especially if they are not legally binding.
You don’t mix family and adult entertainment ever.
As a family who would use a ice rink/roller skating ring we’d never enter a building with a child where nightclubs and adult entertainment is available at the same/similar time because of the risks of dealing with drunks.
If this goes ahead as planned I can see the ice skating and roller skating areas empty after 7pm (especially on a weekend) when serious binge drinking is occurring in the same building.
It’s a damn shame as Skegness could really do with more family friendly facilities like ice skating and roller skating in the early evening, but not this way.
David Law
Its awful for Skegness council to allow a stripclub were children will be. I read in a newspaper new powers are availble in April for councils to prevent sex clubs like the one at the Sky Pier to be closed down. As a Skegness mother i will be complaining to the council in April.
I think there are some very good sound argument raised here and I share all of the fears expressed in mixing adult entertainment with family entertainment. I hope that someone from the council has viewed these comments too.
And I will be joining you in your complaint.
I wish Taj Bola would have thought this through a little more and listned to peoples concerns, but we all know not to expect buisness men to have morals for the good of a community when there’s money involved :-( or our council for that matter.
A Separate door in the Sky Pier, so kids aren’t exposed to adult behaviour and I would have been happy.
Marie
How small minded are some of you people. David you state “men are in the same building participating (or waiting to participate) in sexual acts” It is a lap dancing club that they are proposing to have not a brothel. Have you ever been in one? If not then I do wonder what you think goes on in these clubs.
It is a performance of DANCE whilst the lady is NUDE. How is that a sexual act? I wish the Bolas all the best with their venture!!
So lap dancing isn’t sexual in nature, it’s just dancing in the nude.
Are you trying to suggest men go to a lap dancing club for the artistic nature of the dancing?
Numpty.
Note: I have no major issue with a legal business that incorporates lap dancing. My issue is having the lap dancing club and also bars that could be filled with drunk people open in the same building at the same time as facilities for children and families. I can not see many good parents knowingly using the family facilities at the same times as the adult facilities are open.
Could you imagine if this was a pre existing building with a lap dancing club and bars etc… and someone proposed the Girl Guides should meet in the room above the lap dancing club while the lap dancing club was open!
I appreciate Skegness is no longer a family resort as it used to be, but I hope it’s not gone so bad that the majority of Skegness residents and visitors are either so desperate to get an ice skating rink they are keeping quite or they find the idea of mixing adult and family facilities acceptable.
David
It was more your wording that I didnt agree with, saying a sexual act would imply that a service of sex was taking place. I understand fully what you mean about having it in the same building as family entertainment.
But if it is run properly which I am sure they will ensure it is then it shouldnt cause a problem. With regards to your comment on having the bars open when there are family leisure facilities open have you ever been to the pier bowl? That is a family place but has it’s bar open, and also Fantasy Island has many bars open during the day whilst families are around.
Come on Dan that’s semantics, does it matter that much if I said sexual acts or sexual in nature?
Obviously I’m not suggesting full sex is going to occur in the gentleman’s club, but your comment came across as the other extreme that there’s nothing sexual in lap dancing at all.
The issue regarding drinking in the building is quite straight forward.
The Skypier will be filled with night club like bars that are not what I’d call family friendly pubs (would you consider them family friendly?). I don’t think anyone reasonable in Skegness has an issue with a pub that’s got an area for families, they attract families not binge drinkers. Would be great if more Skegness pubs were family orientated.
Young people flock to Skeggy in summer to get pissed out their heads and pull. I admit that’s why I visited Skegness when I was a young man, and that results in trouble (fighting for example).
If the bars within the Skypier are successful (and I expect they will be) and they are open relatively early in the evening (7pm for example) and the family facilities are open up until 11pm (Taj Bola on a Skegness forum has suggested they might be open that late) there’s a period of time where there’s the POTENTIAL for a significant number of young drunk binge drinkers entering/exiting the Skypier while children and families are using the ice rink etc…
IMO this is asking for trouble, there’s the potential for bottlenecks in the lift and entrance/exit etc… we should try to keep families and children away from binge drinkers, not have them stuck in a lift together!
It’s not rocket science, young men get drunk, young men get in fights.
I lost count the number of fights I got into when I was young when I was out clubbing. Last thing on my mind while I was breaking someones nose because they looked at me funny was are there any families in the doorway that might get hurt!
Use some common sense. It’s not a good idea to have families using the facilities at the same time as binge drinking adults. I have no issue with them being in the same building, it’s using them at the same time I have the issue with.
Having separate entrances/exits would to some degree reduce the chances of trouble occurring in amongst families. Based on the current plans, one entrance/exit with one lift, the safest solution is close the family facilities before the adult facilities open (or at least before they get rowdy).
David
Could you imagine if this was a pre existing building with a lap dancing club and bars etc… and someone proposed the Girl Guides should meet in the room above the lap dancing club while the lap dancing club was open
========================
He’s right if Flirts wanted to put a Ice skating ring at the top of their building and kids would have to pass incomming trade to the Lap Dancing club there would be an out cry
Mum’s united
Only in Skeg would they think this was all right!
I though they couldn’t do any more to attract the lowest of the low apparently they can.
Skegs nothing, but a Gambling, Drunks sex pit.
The days of Skegness being a family fun resort is long gone!
Phil
Skegs nothing, but a Gambling, Drunks sex pit.
Nothings changed there then :)
Maybe I should come back to my hometown it was always fun.
I noticed Skegness Standard doing its usual wishy washy reporting there wasn’t one mention of the Gentleman club that’s going to be a part of the Sky Pier
Neither was there a mention during the council meeting I know for a fact it has been brought to their attention
Disgraceful that we have to have this type of sex bar because the council is incapable of attracting new family businesses to the town
One millionaire waves his cash and they take it as they can sit back in there expensive designer furniture and wash there hands of responsibility
skegness needs family values not more sleazy sex clubs and pubs
Tracy
Skegness seems to be changing more than I thought, and maybe I will be looking more closely this year at whether it is still right for us to go there, in view of the comments about drunks and druggy needles in the parks.
ive always respected Skegness for its open friendly and put going nature, and yes its lost some of its grandeur, the shops signs are faded and the market needs some painting up, the awnings on shops are a bit weather beaten but thats just aging and the economy;-allowances can be made for that.
THE PEOPLE are friendly, and restaurant staff try to be helpful. Its such a shame if this is allowed to drag Skeggy into the mire. True drunks are SPENDING MORE, in bars and on “entertainment” but will this increase the crime rates, and deter family visitors? Will anyone care, because families tend to spend less;-but they dont allow for the ‘pester power’ of kids!
If the gentleman’s club is going to be opening around 10pm, shouldn’t young children be at home getting ready for bed if they are not already in it.
I was born in Skegness and grew up there, there has always been a mixture of sex, alcohol, gambling and fighting, don’t you remember the mods, rockers, hells angels, skinheads all coming to town. It never stopped people visiting with their children.
And by the time kids in Skegness hit 13 they are already knowledgeable about what goes on in the town etc. I think a lot of the responsibility should be for the parents to parent their kids, if being close to a gentleman’s club is a problem then it’s up to you as parents to keep your kids away. Skegness needs all the help it can get to keep it financially healthy with people willing to spend their money.
no one needs to worry about the sky pier project like other ventures of the bola brothers it will never get off the ground
come on you bola brothers the town has made you money its time you got the building started and and not made the town look so shanty the councill helped you both to improve the old seacroft hotel now its time you both honoured their good will and got the project started the town had faith in you so come on lets improve the town and you have faith in the town we want to be proud of you as much as the building that goes up your fight might be with the councill the people of skegness dont have a fight against you ……regards chris