Lap-dancing club applies for wedding licence (From Echo)

Lap-dancing club applies for wedding licence

6:00pm Tuesday 1st September 2009 in News By James Colasanti

Rehearsal – friends of manager Dean Kaye, Damion and Michelle Baigent and Stevie Clift show how a wedding at the club could look

YOU might think it an establishment more likely to end a marriage than start one.

But bosses at Katz strip club in Basildon town centre have applied for a licence to hold weddings...even if it has always been more traditionally associated with the groom’s last night of freedom.

The idea came about after a couple from Chelmsford visited Katz for a fetish night and insisted they wanted their nuptials there too.

General manager Dean Kayne, 38, thinks the venue will give couples an unforgettable day.

He said: “I know many think it’s just single or divorced men who come here, so hopefully this will help us redress the balance.

“In the past few years we have had groups of females coming here for hen nights, and we have always had couples coming together.

“So I really think it will appeal to people who want to do something a bit different.

“We have the lighting, stages, booths and enough space to do something really interesting. I think we can fill a gap in the market for some alternative weddings.”

There are already a number of unconventional wedding venue options in the local area: You can get hitched in a casino in Southend, a windmill in Rayleigh, and you can even swap vows in a tree house in Kent.

But Katz is bidding to become the county’s first marriage-licenced lap-dancing club and the club, in Time Square, has applied for a licence from Essex County Council to host marriages and civil partnerships for same sex couples.

There will be a three-week public consultation period, and an inspection of the premises by Essex County Council. If no objections are raised the licence will be approved in September. 17.