A whole town will "burn in hell" if it allows lap dancing at a nightclub, a war hero has claimed.

Veteran anti-porn campaigner Steve Stevens, 89, said Worthing will be eternally damned if it allows the Liquid Lounge nightclub to put on the nude and semi-nude shows.

And the town's brush with Beelzebub could come sooner rather than later, with a committee of politicians due to decide whether to give the go-ahead to the plan later this month.

Mr Stevens, a decorated World War II pilot, said: "Civilisation will be damned if we allow these sorts of clubs to become the norm. It will go to hell.

"I'm making a moral stand against this application because it is wrong."

He even claimed women could be attacked by randy revellers pouring out of the club if it was allowed to put on the lap dancing.

Stevens added: "There will be men coming out of the club who are sexually aroused and intoxicated. Women will be in direct danger from them."

The pensioner has now started a petition against the club's plans and says he has secured more than 300 signatures on it.

Liquid Lounge, which has run regular club nights at its four room venue for years, wants to put on the lap dancing and stripping shows for members only.

General manager James Lanz said the nights would be tasteful and fully policed by security staff.

He said: "We are aiming at the Adonis cabaret-style show for ladies and tasteful nude and semi-nude dancers for men.

"This has worked very well, trouble-free, in many other towns.

"This will, of course, be run very strictly for members only and for over-18s, or possibly over-21s."

The club has applied to run the lap dancing nights in its ground floor Le Chic room.

It would be Worthing's first ever lap dancing club.

Sussex Police officers have said they would only be able to object if it was shown that disorder could result from the lap dancing nights.

But licensing officer PC Mike Webb added that the force was not a "moral guardian" of the town.

Vaughan Lilley, the chairman of the Central Worthing Residents Association, said: "Our particular concern has always been the behaviour of people once they leave the pubs and clubs on their way home.

"In the end, if people want to get blind drunk, that is their look-out. But there is no reason why society as a whole should have to bear the brunt of their excesses."

Worthing Borough Council's licensing committee is due to decide whether to allow the lap dancing at a meeting on March 27.