SEV CONDITIONS APPEAL REFUSED - Secrets v London Borough of Camden

According to reports we have seen, Secrets, the operator of a number of Sex Establishment Venues in London, has failed in its attempt to remove (no pun intended) certain standard conditions contained in Camden’s sex establishment licensing policy relating to its licence at its Camden premises.  The decision implied that the local authority has a discretion to impose conditions as it sees fit.

It was argued by the operator that they had never previously operated with conditions as those requested and had never been exposed (pun intended this time!) to any of the issues which the authority sought to prevent by way of conditioning. They therefore sought the exclusion of conditions including preventing visibility into the premises, the distribution of literature and the regulation of performance, including the ability of the performer to apply their fingers, lips and tongues to private parts of their body.

District Judge McPhee presiding over the matter found that the licensing authority had engaged in a statutory process which involved a significant local consultation process leading to the adoption of the policy and the standard conditions, against which there had been no legal challenge. It was also stated that the decision of the sub-committee is the exercise of a power delegated by the people as a whole to decide what the public interest requires.

Further, it was found that there was a valid reason for all of the conditions contested and there was nothing which proved the decisions to have been wrong.

The appeal was dismissed with substantial costs being awarded to the Council.