SOHO’S image as a haven for sex and drugs took a new blow today with the news the local council plan to close down many of its lapdancing clubs.
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“There is no place in a civilised society for the drug-dealing and anti-social behaviour which has for too long been the scourge of Soho,” said Westminster Council leader Colin Barrow, in explanation of plans to shut 15 lapdancing clubs.
“The vast majority of visitors would never venture anywhere near the seedy premises, and the view that the sex and drugs are part of its ‘charm’ is simply wrong.”
But Barrow could be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Last week, police said that they had “largely succeeded” in removing illegal vice from Soho and that the vast majority of sex workers and drug dealers in Soho are now fakes.
“These days Soho has been cleaned-up,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Rowell, who explained that dealers flog liquorice as hashish and ‘prostitutes’ take a deposit for a room and then run off with the cash.
“Please don’t come looking for drugs and prostitutes,” Rowell advised. “You will almost certainly get something you didn’t expect.”
