Thirst Lodge, a popular nightclub and cocktail bar, has abandoned its plans to host lap-dancing nights after mass opposition from residents and students.

The club withdrew its application for a lap-dancing licence after the parishioners of nearby St Ebbe’s Church voiced outrage at the proposal.

Members of the church, whose entrance is 20 feet from the club, have also accused Thirst of failing to advertise the plans properly, meaning they had no chance to raise their concerns during the council’s period of consultation.

Rector Vaughan Roberts said that the lap-dancing would be “unacceptable not only next to our building but anywhere in our city.”

Regulars at the church echoed the rector’s disgust at the plans. A Hertford student attending St Ebbe’s said, “it’s horrible. I find it really weird. It’s just a massive juxtaposition to walk out of the lap-dancing club and then see the church.”

Rachel Cummings, the OUSU Women’s Officer, expressed her condemnation of the application. She said, “lap-dancing is abhorrent; it’s an activity which presents women as sexual items existing for the entertainment of men.

“Any club holding a lap-dancing license needs to recognise that this activity is degrading. Many customers will no longer feel comfortable attending the club on any of its nights.”

This view has been echoed by Christian groups. Claire Greig, vice president of the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union said, “we are saddened by the fact that the Thirst Lodge is hosting these nights which involve practices degrading to women, and we hope that the license will not be granted.”

William Iles, 1st year PPE student said, “Thirst Lodge is one of my favorite clubs in Oxford. I was really relieved that is not going to compromise its reputation amongst students by becoming seedy.”

The venue had applied for a variation in its license in early January, asking to offer lap-dancing as part of its entertainment. Clubs doing this must advertise the move both in local papers and on the premises.

Abrahams added, “we learnt of the story very late, we heard it one day after the last day of objections. The ward councilor e-mailed me on the 19th, the day before the deadline informing me about this. However, I picked it up on the 20th, the deadline.”

He noted that he was “worried about the type of people it [the venue] will attract.” This led him to contact the police for consultation.

Rector Vaughan Roberts said that “very strong opposition to the application would have been expressed if it had been known to the public.”

After sparking outrage among the local community, the venue decided to withdraw the application on the morning of the 27th of January. Its spokesperson said, “we’ve withdrawn the application after consultation with the public and our neighbours from the church.”

A spokesperson for Greene King, the license holders of Thirst, said, “the licencee and Greene King have held discussions and decided to withdraw the licence application for the Thirst Lodge. No further applications of this type will be submitted for the pub.”

Mark Abrahams expressed his relief at the withdrawal of application saying, “we’re very grateful that this has ended like this. I think the last session of council which was supposed to be on Thursday is being withdrawn now.”

The decision about the cancellation of the licensing hearing was confirmed by the Oxford City Council.

Fire services are investigating claims that students’ safety may be at risk after a Cherwell investigation has revealed that three Oxford nightclubs could be lacking basic fire safety precautions.

Cherwell investigation of eight nightclubs in Oxford has raised concerns about the compliance of Kukui, Escape, and OFS with fire regulations as stated in the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005.

These concerns are being followed up on by the Oxfordshire Fire Service.

The Order states that all employees must be given adequate fire safety training when they commence employment as well as receiving refreshers as appropriate. This must include training in the use of fire equipment.

But staff at the clubs interviewed by Cherwell indicated that they had never received any fire training, a finding described as very disturbing by the fire service.

One Kukui staff member said that the club’s fire and safety training is “pretty casual.” She said they had taken no action for almost half an hour on one occasion when the fire alarm went off in the upstairs of the club.

She said, “the fire alarm went off last November for 25 minutes upstairs. They couldn’t hear it downstairs. I didn’t do anything. People were in the club. Someone eventually heard it and went and told the staff downstairs.” She added, “the alarm was fixed afterwards.”

She also said that she had not experienced any fire drills while she had been working at the club, admitting that she only knew how to use a fire extinguisher from her previous job.

Another staff member also admitted that the club had not trained her to use fire extinguishers.

Two other staff members who have been working at Kukui since October said that they too had never received any fire training at the club.

At Escape, staff spoken to by Cherwell had also received no fire training. One staff member admitted that he couldn’t even use a fire extinguisher.

They mentioned that the club had mock drills but that these were “not treated seriously.” They said that if there is a fire “we just go out” and that there is no specific fire plan. The club also had no first aider present.

At OFS, one staff member said, “there is no fire training due to the company rules.” They added, however, that they knew where the fire extinguishers were and that there was a register for staff signing in and out.

Pat Rosen, the Station Officer of the Oxfordshire Fire Brigade, commented on the results of the investigation, saying, “obviously we’re very disturbed at the findings of this investigation and we’ll be following it up.”

“I’m going to pass the details to the Council and we’ll start the inspection. This will consist of visiting the clubs and talking to the owners.”

Both Kukui and Escape were visited by the Oxfordshire Fire Service on Tuesday. However, both clubs denied claims about negligence in adhering to fire and safety regulations.

The general manager of Kukui said the fire services had visited the club and found that they were complying with fire and safety regulations. He said, “we are 100% complying with regulations across the land.”

He added, “all staff, including bouncers, before we opened our doors, had had fire training.”

When confronted with the evidence from our investigation, he said, “we have recently taken on new staff” and suggested that it was these people whom our investigators had spoken to.

He also said, “I have a record of all my staff members who have signed to say that they have received fire training.”

Barry Stockford, a member of the Fire Prevention Team, commented, “our response yesterday was immediate. The records of the clubs were satisfactory but we couldn’t validate this in terms of questioning staff and we will be following that up in the next few weeks with fire audits.”

He also added that the Fire Services were “far from dismissive of this.”

Pulse, the student run club promotions company, which has organised several events at both Escape and OFS, commented, “PulseNation exists to give students the best night out possible. We only work with people we think will support us in achieving this aim and we are confident that all the venues we work with are complying with the rules. If people are claiming otherwise we’ll speak to the management teams, but we’re committed to providing students with safe, fun and cheap nights out.”

Pulse has worked in collaboration with OUSU since last year.

Rosanna McBeath, OUSU’s VP for welfare, said, “student safety is very important, especially when out in clubs. OUSU knows that the staff at Pulse Nation do check that clubs are complying with Fire Safety laws, we wouldn’t have agreed to collaborate with them otherwise. At the end of the day, though, Pulse Nation has to take the club operators at their word. I hope in light of this investigation both the clubs and the authorities work harder to ensure that fire safety standards are complied with.”

Several students have expressed distress at the findings of the investigation.

Victoria Turk, Oriel JCR Entz rep, added, “it also worries me that Escape doesn’t have anyone who could help with medical problems, as I’m sure these occur frequently among clubbers.”

Alexander Bulfin, JCR President of University, commented, “The question should not be whether Entz Officers should sell tickets to nights at these venues, but whether club night organisers should be using them in the first instance. Students and JCRs pay these promoters to organise nights out for them – this should mean ensuring that it is safe as well as fun and value for money.”

Other students have revealed their lack of concern about fire safety when out clubbing.

Rachel Chew, a St Peter’s first-year, added, “I usually don’t look where the fire exits are as I feel safe and I trust the organisers.”

Kukui nightclub is facing a licence review following complaints that the club is failing to address crime and disorder taking place on the premises and is neglecting public safety issues.

Police have expressed concerns that Kukui is neglecting these important matters and have therefore forced Kukui to face a compulsory review of its licence. The review could result in the club having to close.

Last term saw two serious glassing incidents at the pacific island themed club on Park End Street. Both incidents resulted in hospital treatment for those involved.

Since Kukui’s opening in August, police have been called out 22 times.

Police licensing officer Tony Cope told the Oxford Mail “Thames Valley Police has had meetings with the management on several occasions to express concerns”, and that the local force felt that “due to the seriousness, rather than the number of incidents, a review of the licence is the only option left to address these issues.”

A spokeswoman for Kukui said that the two glassing incidents had “been handled in the perfect manner”, and added that the club had now gone seven weeks without a violent incident.

She denied that the club was in danger of being closed down, stating that, “the licensing officer has told us that we are not even on the radar as a problem club”.

She said of the license review that “revocation” was extremely unlike, saying “the licensing authority has confirmed to us that revocation is not their intention, as have the council”.

The press office for Oxford City Council said that problems surrounding capacity had been another issue involved in the decision to call a licensing hearing.

However, Kukui’s spokesperson denied that the club was frequently overcrowded, commenting that “we do not run Kukui at capacity because it affects the level of service that we try to achieve.”

Asked about problems with queuing outside the club, she blamed council policy that refused the club permission to allow smokers to use the club’s terrace.

She said, “due to the council not allowing us to use our terrace for smoking we are forced to put smokers at the front of the venue which is always going to have an effect on queuing options.”

She claimed that Oxford police had voiced support for Kukui’s opposition to the council ban and had agreed that allowing smoking on the terrace “would alleviate any possible issues with regards to queuing”.

Many students have expressed similar concerns to those voiced by the authoritties.

One second-year student spoke of the violence that had taken place within the club, as well as the issues of long queues and overcrowding, but added that closing the club was an unnecessary step. The student said,

“there are a lot of fights and stuff at Kukui, and the queues are always huge. I don’t think they need to close it down though.”

Kukui is the third Oxford club to have faced a licensing hearing recently.

Last April, Imperial was forced to close for six weeks and fire its premises supervisor, after a licensing review was called by police and health and safety officials.

Among the issues raised were an incident of mass brawling, dangerous electrical wiring and the fact that traces of cocaine had been found in the toilets.

Bridge was also reviewed last year after police complained about “the number of crime and disorder incidents at the premises”, and was forced to exchange glasses for plastic cups.

The official licensing review of the club is to be conducted in Oxford Town Hall, on February 26th.

Somerville students have been fined £1,000 after a food fight broke out at the ebd of term dinner.

College property was damaged during the food fight, including an ornate silver jug and one of the Hall’s portraits.

A member of staff injured her wrist after slipping on food and was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital as a precautionary measure.

College authorities were unable to identify which students were involved in the disorder. Instead they have fined the collective JCR budget, angering some students who were not at the event.

One third-year student expressed his annoyance at the decision. “I hadn’t even been to the dinner and can’t see why my JCR is spending part of my tuition fees on the fine.

“My fees are going on something that I’ve nothing to do with and I am not responsible for.”

James McDonnell, last term’s Dean at Somerville, justified the decision to impose a collective punishment, emphasizing that “the most just solution would be for the culprits to come forward” but that students had refused to incriminate their friends.

He expressed regret that despite the presence of several elected JCR representatives at the meal “who could help identify those who were guilty” they “miraculously saw nothing” of the event.

“I do understand the culture of not wanting to identify fellow students to the College authorities, but it does limit our ability to deal with this in the most just way possible. In the absence of any cooperation I’m afraid the JCR fine is what we are left with.”

Somerville student Dexter Harries explained that the incident “was not malicious” but that “the situation just got out of control”.

“Everyone was drunk and messing around but they didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I think they all feel pretty bad about that. But I’m not sure that punishing the whole JCR was the right move.”

In an email to undergraduates JCR President Stavros Orfanos accepted the fine while expressing his regret that the “money has to be spent this way” rather than “on opportunities that could benefit us all”.

He provided a breakdown of the fine, including £280 to pay for the clean-up operation. Repairing the damaged silverware cost the college £585.

A former student from Pembroke has been attacked after attending a pro-Israel rally in London, despite the presence of mounted police.

Daniel Lowe, the founder of MuJewz, an Oxford society which aims to promote Muslim-Jewish dialogue, was set upon by two men of Asian appearance as he went to visit friends immediately after the rally.

He said, “they asked where I had been. When I told them it was none of their business, they punched me in the head, pushed me to the ground and kicked me.”

He described one of his attackers as wearing a Palestinian flag on his jacket and the other wearing a Keffiyeh – a traditional Palestinian headscarf.

Anne Irfan, social secretary of MuJewz told Cherwell that MuJewz “strongly condemns violence which is racially or religiously motivated.” Co-president of the Oxford Jewish Society, Raphael Cohen, agreed. He said, “attacking someone because of their beliefs is completely unacceptable. The incident involving Daniel Lowe emphasises the fact that moderates on both sides of the debate should assert themselves and raise their calls for peace and tolerance.”

In a letter written to the Jewish Chronicle, the MuJewz committee commented that they were “deeply saddened” by the incident. They said, “nobody should suffer physical violence or verbal abuse for peaceably expressing their political opinions.”

A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, a group which provides physical security, training and advice for the protection of British Jews, commented, “there has been a totally unprecedented wave of anti-Semitic incidents over the past few weeks. This is of great concern to the Jewish Community. Debate is one thing but bringing the actual conflict onto our streets with racist attacks is to be condemned outright.”

Shahnaz Ahsan, Director of Mujewz, commented that to her knowledge there have been no reports of anti-Semitic violence in Oxford and that many communities “both nationally and locally have been very vocal against anti-Semitic violence.”

Despite this, there is recognition among students that there is a need to promote interfaith in Oxford. “MuJewz has been running successfully in Oxford for 5 years. By no means is our work complete, but we have been successful in our endeavours to promote interfaith in Oxford and will continue to do so.”