Stag party member claims he was ‘grossly exploited’ by lap dancing club Spearmint Rhino after spending third of his salary in single evening

A member of a stag party has claimed he was “grossly exploited” by a Bournemouth lap dancing club after he spent a third of his salary in a single evening.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spent more than £7,500 at the Spearmint Rhino strip club in August 2013 and is claiming that staff “grossly exploited a person in a vulnerable position.”

Arriving at the venue, the man – who lives in Northern Ireland – admits that he was already intoxicated but claims that he ended up alone in a booth after staff plied him with more alcohol until he was unaware of his actions.

In the course of the evening he says he made 13 separate credit card transactions, including two lots of £1,176 taken two minutes apart, £2,304 in three separate instances eight minutes apart and £2,928 in three transactions six minutes apart.

In total he blew a reported £7,584 on three credit cards in the course of the stag party – much of which he claims he cannot remember.

He has spent the last year battling to regain his lost funds without success, claiming that he has never received a satisfactory explanation from the ‘gentleman’s club’.

He has now written to Bournemouth council in an attempt to raise awareness of the dangers the club poses.

In his letter to the council, published by the Bournemouth Echo, he states: “I fully acknowledge that I was foolish to enter the club drunk and in possession of several credit cards, but I have been in similar situations before and never experienced anything remotely approaching this or involving such a life-changing sum of money – and someone being foolish does not excuse in any way the actions of the club and its employees and the way they grossly exploited a person in a vulnerable position.”

Councillor David Smith, who is supporting the man’s formal objections to the venue’s license renewal, said: “I was shocked and concerned to hear of the experience this man had in Spearmint Rhino.

“There are very strict rules governing the way Spearmint Rhino and other sexual entertainment venues can operate and it is imperative these are adhered to.”

A spokesperson for Spearmint Rhino said: "The allegation goes back to the summer of 2013. The matter is now being raised as an objection to the renewal of the SEV licence which has already been renewed once since that date.

"The allegation is denied and it is not intended to engage in a trial through the media. Spearmint Rhino investigate any complaints made and work with the authorities and banks in all enquiries they carry out. The authorities and the bank found such an allegation was not made out. If this is the same incident, and Spearmint Rhino are not aware of any similar incident, then this was dealt with around a year ago."