Musselburgh named best place for adult entertainment venues

A survey on the best location for future sex venues saw residents rule out most towns and communities in the east of the county.

And most respondents insisted that the only place where they would be acceptable would be the Honest Toun.

People were asked their views as East Lothian Council consulted over whether it needed to introduce a licensing policy for sexual entertainment venues.

The policy, which could also apply to swingers' clubs and private house parties, comes after the Scottish Government gave local authorities discretionary powers to introduce the additional licences.

A survey launched on the East Lothian Consultation Hub asked for public views on whether venues should be licensed and which locations would be acceptable for such venues and which would not.

The findings, which go before the council’s licensing sub-committee tomorrow (Thursday), saw a majority of those giving a view naming Musselburgh as the only suitable place.

Residents in the east of the county insisted that their towns and villages would not be suitable, with Gullane, North Berwick and Dunbar all ruled out by those taking part.

The vast majority of people responding told the council that they did not believe anywhere was suitable for sex venues in East Lothian, with most also responding to a question about the number of licensed venues the county should allow by saying there should be zero.

When asked which locations were unsuitable for such venues, responses included: “Gullane, North Berwick, Dunbar”, “wherever you’re thinking of putting them” and “the rest of East Lothian except for Musselburgh”.

One respondent, however, suggested the county’s secluded Archerfield and Renaissance golf clubs as suitable sites, pointing out that they were “away from public locations”.

While another pointed to unused sites across the county, adding: “There is a lot of wasteland areas in small towns such as Haddington I can think of from the top of my head that would be more than perfect for establishing a business like this.”

This week’s sub-committee meeting will be asked to consider introducing a licensing policy, with members warned that having no policy would leave the county open to sex clubs opening without any controls in place to oversee them.

However, a report to members added: “Introducing the licensing of sex entertainment venues is not equivalent to accepting or supporting such businesses.

“That control could, if deemed appropriate, include a policy setting the number of such businesses to be permitted at zero.”