PLANS for a strip club in Southampton have been given the go-ahead.

Civic chiefs have approved plans for a strip club at the site of the former Kelly’s Bar in London Road.

The venue will open from 9pm to 2am Monday to Friday and from 9pm to 12.30am on Sundays.

The plans were submitted by Star Dust Entertainment (UK) Ltd.

It comes as the venue was granted a licence last year.

At the time it was agreed that the club would have to close at 5am and it would have to stop entertainment and the sale of alcohol at 4.30am.

However, the opening hours were amended and the plans were approved by the Planning and Rights of Way Panel at Southampton City Council earlier this week.

After the meeting Cllr Lisa Mitchell, chair of the panel, said: "I do have a number of concerns about these types of venue in the city. Particularly around the safety of women and these club's role in perpetuating sexism and misogyny. However, we have very little control over these sorts of issues.We had to consider whether a sexual entertainment venue would cause any more disturbance to the area than the nightclub the site was previously used for and the judgement of the panel was that it didn't. We did however decline to consider the applicants request that the venue stay open until 5am and limited its opening times until 2am . The applicant seemed to think that a gentlemen's club was not viable under those terms so we will wait and see whether this venue now comes to fruition."

Last year licensing officers asked for a number of conditions to be in place. These include the requirement for door staff to have body-worn cameras.

ID scanning will be compulsory for the first six months and the police and the applicant will then decide whether to continue to ask clients for ID when entering the club.

The applicant was approached for comment but it was unable to provide one before the paper went to press.