RULES ON DIVAS TIGHTENED

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 15th Oct 2008

Restormel Borough Council has banned physical contact between dancers and customers at Divas Gentleman's Cub in Newquay in a move welcomed by Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Stephen Gilbert.

In future, dancers will have to maintain a distance of three feet between themselves and patrons at all times.

A council panel made the ruling on Monday, a week after a Channel Four documentary showed undercover footage of the same rule being broken by a dancer during a private dance in Halos in Bank Street.

Divas, formerly part of Red Square Nightclub, applied for a conversion of their current licence when opening as a strip club. At the time no restrictions on physical contact were placed. When Halos opened earlier this year its licence included a condition stating 'the performer will keep a minimum distance of three feet away from the customer'.

Newquay Liberal Democrats said that it was important to bring Divas into line with the town's other clubs.

Stephen Gilbert, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Newquay and St Austell, said: "It's a victory for common sense because now Divas has been brought in line with the other clubs in the town. However, the campaign goes on. What we are looking for now is a change in national law to give local people more of a say in where these venues open."