Two lapdancing clubs have been given permission for their girls to appear totally naked.

Ken McGrath, who runs Top Totty and the Pussycat Club in Brighton and Hove, has been awarded full-nudity licences by Brighton and Hove City Council for the venues.

Now the club boss has said his dancers will bare all from April 28.

The application for the Pussycat Club in Church Road, Hove, went through the council's licencing committee automatically because there were no public objections to the request.

But councillors approved the licence for Top Totty in Grand Parade, Brighton, yesterday despite a hotel next door raising concerns about the plans.

The Brighton Royal Hotel was worried about noise coming from the club with doors slamming and loud music.

It also felt men could be more riotous in the street if they had seen a completely nude performance.

Mr McGrath said: "The hotel owners have a right to privacy and there have been some problems with noise in the past.

"We have made changes to make sure there isn't any noise leak like putting in acoustic noise insulation and sound proofing."

The council approved Top Totty's full nudity licence on condition it does not open on Sundays, does not hold karaoke and a juke box is not installed.

Mr McGrath said: "We happily gave up the application for Sunday opening because no-one would want to go to see something like that on a Sunday anyway.

"We only asked for Sundays to be included to keep up with the competition.

"I don't know whether these licences mean we are going forwards or backwards."

He said Grace's, in North Street, Brighton, was doing fully naked shows and the decision of the management there had forced him to pay his dancers to strip completely as well.

Mr McGrath added: "If stag parties are faced with the choice of going to a topless club or a nude club, they are inevitably going to chose to go to a nude club. We couldn't remain the only topless bars in Brighton."

The Pussycat Club and Top Totty employ around 35 girls and Mr McGrath said five had chosen to leave because they did not want to strip totally.

Brighton and Hove City Council is trying to get increased legal powers to help it control the spread of strip clubs.

At the moment, a loophole in the licensing act means councillors have limited authority to oppose clubs on grounds of their exotic performances.

The council is preparing to ask Parliament to approve a by-law that would let the local authority block new applications for strip joints.