The council suspended their licence for three months but the club is closing permanently
Dare To, Dare To Private Members Club in St Philips, Bristol, which has applied to run a dance party (Image: Google Street View)
A sex kink club in Bristol which was the subject of a three-month licence suspension order made by councillors after a feisty licensing committee hearing last month has announced it has closed permanently.
Dare To, which is based in St Phillips, has told its customers that ‘the time has come to say goodbye’ after ‘nine incredible years at the heart of Bristol’s nightlife’.
The club was a venue for a wide range of live music, dance, performance and art, but it was a demonstration which involved customers being tied up with rope and suspended from the ceiling that sparked concern among Bristol’s Safety Advisory Group.
Back on January 23, Bristol Live reported from a meeting of the city council’s licensing sub-committee, where councillors heard that concerns among safety experts included a lack of sufficient lighting in an area designed for a sex act, which could cause a trip hazard, as well as concerns among the police, fire service, environmental health and the city council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement Team, about the way the club was run.
Those bodies form Bristol’s multi-agency Safety Advisory Group, and they applied for a licence review, which was held in January.
READ MORE: Bristol sex kink club ordered to shut for up to three months
The panel of councillors rejected calls to shut the club down, and remove its owner Cheryl Brice, as the venue’s ‘designated premises supervisor’ (DPS), despite hearing Avon and Somerset police’s licensing officer Louise Mowbray tell the meeting that Ms Brice had ‘lied to her’ about whether she had an SIA licence or not.
But minutes before the hearing, Ms Brice’s solicitor agreed with a way forward – that the licensing sub-committee suspend the premises licence for up to three months to give Ms Brice time to sort out the issues raised by the authorities.
The club remained open for three weeks after that hearing, but will now close permanently, according to a post on Dare To’s Facebook page.
“It is with great regret and sadness that we announce the permanent closure of Dare to Club,” the club’s owners said.
“After nine incredible years at the heart of Bristol’s nightlife, the time has come to say goodbye.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to every customer, associate, promoter, and organiser who helped transform D2 into the legend it became (I’m sure it will be talked about for years to come)
“You created the energy, the community, and the memories that defined us. Thank you for your unwavering support and for being part of our journey,” they added, promising to ‘keep you all posted on the next venture that’s in the pipeline’.