La Salsa lap dancing club could be stripped of licence to thrill

Feb 9 2010 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ALLEGATIONS that under-age strippers were working at a Huddersfield lap dancing club were made as far back as 2007, it emerged last night.

Now La Salsa, which is also at the centre of claims about seedy sex deals, could be shut for good.

Police ordered the club, on Beast Market in Huddersfield town centre, to close in the early hours of Saturday morning after an undercover investigation into claims customers were being offered sex for cash.

Under UK law, private dancers in clubs must remain partially clothed at all times and are banned from physical contact with customers.

Plain-clothed special constables posing as punters reported being told sexual favours were on offer by dancers at the club on Friday night.

Uniformed officers and Kirklees Council licensing officials then raided the venue and allegedly discovered a 16-year-old Romanian stripper working there. Lap dancers have to be over 18.

The bar owner, who also runs La Salsa in Halifax, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of child welfare offences and people trafficking.

Concerns about the 35-year-old Iranian man’s legal status in the UK have also led to an immigration investigation. He has since been released on bail.