STRIPPER DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE PUB

By Stephen Portlock

Demonstrations are expected at a Harrow pub this Thursday when male strippers will reveal all to drinkers.

The Fornax and Firkin pub will be hosting its first male strip show, which it hopes will be the first of many.

The pub was awarded a licence in January to hold ten strip events before March 2003, despite a thousand-signature petition from local residents and fierce opposition from Harrow Council.

Jill Rawlins, Head of Communications at Spirit Group which runs the pub chain, rejected allegations that the show would be degrading to women, pointing out that the pub is run by a woman, and that the strippers will be male.

Ms Rawlins was unable to say whether the pub would hire female strippers, but stressed that the show would be professionally managed. She added that if Londoners can watch The Full Monty on stage and television than she does not see why a strip show is unfit for Harrow.

Nine hundred more residents have voiced their objections to the strip event amid fears that it will downgrade the area by attracting crowds from outside Harrow and encourage other pubs to follow suit. Locals also fear the possibility of sex shops opening and an increase in drug abuse and crime.