Spearmint Rhino strip club in Sheffield goes up for sale
Sheffield’s only strip club, Spearmint Rhino, has been put up for sale – just weeks after an application was made to renew the licence.
The venue on Brown Street in the city centre is listed for sale by Savills, which says offers are invited for the ‘freehold with vacant possession’.
The club has operated at the site for 17 years, offering lap dances, strip teases and pole dancing, but is currently closed due to coronavirus.
Its licence must be renewed annually and an application to do so was recently made to Sheffield Council.
Last year, the club succeeded in keeping its licence despite an undercover video showing dancers sexually touching customers – in breach of the regulations – and anti-sex work campaigners have begun gathering objections to the latest application.
The sales brochure lists the premises as the ‘former Spearmint Rhino’, though there has been no announcement of any intention to close the club permanently.
It goes on to state that ‘all Spearmint Rhino branding is to be removed’ and says the modern building is ‘potentially suitable for alternative uses, subject to planning’.
Neither Spearmint Rhino nor Savills has responded to enquiries by The Star.
The latest council inspection, at the end of 2019, found dancers ‘touching and hugging’ customers in what was described as a 'minor breach' of licensing rules.
The council recently proposed a ban on sex venues in the city - unless in exceptional circumstances - but deferred the ‘zero limit’ policy for more research.