AN application to open a lap dancing club has been refused.

Nightclub owners wanted to turn their city centre venue into what would have been the biggest strip joint in Brighton and Hove.

But they were turned down by councillors after police warned there would be an increased risk of crime.

Managers of Club 52, in North Street, plan to apply again at a later date.

Police welcomed the decision by Brighton and Hove City Council's licensing panel yesterday afternoon.

Sergeant Peter Castleton of Brighton and Hove Police's licensing team said: "We are very pleased that the committee has recognised our concerns relating to lap dancing in the city."

Club 52 is run by three men who made their careers as a solicitor, banker and businessman and who have vast experience of running clubs in London.

They wanted to stage male and female lap dancing nights in Club 52, which has two floors and can accommodate 165 customers.

On some nights there might have been an ordinary club downstairs and lap dancing upstairs.

All customers going into the club are photographed, searched and asked to provide identification. This would have continued.

Peter Hill, a major shareholder in the club, said: "We do a far greater check than the other clubs I know in Brighton."

But police said the business would be fraught with dangers if some people were going in expecting a nightclub and were mixing with lap dancing customers.

They were concerned that the club planned to employ dancers through agencies, which employ eastern European women who could be exploited.

They were also worried at the links in London between lap dancing and the sex industry.

There had been an application to run under-18s nights at Club 52 but that was withdrawn.

Announcing the panel's decision, meeting chairwoman Councillor Dee Simson said: "We have concerns about crime and disorder. We have great concerns about the location near a crime hot spot and we are very concerned about people mixing when entering the club."

In the past two weeks the council has considered two applications to vary the licences at Brighton's two existing lap-dancing clubs.

Both the Pussycat Club in Church Road, Hove, and Top Totty in Grand Parade, Brighton, wanted to have naked dancers.

At the moment, they remove all their clothes except their G-strings.

The Pussycat was refused permission to allow nudity but was allowed to extend its hours when the licensing laws change in November.

Top Totty withdrew its application for naked dancers and instead applied to change its hours and to allow customers to wear trainers and jeans.

The revised application was passed.