A NIGHTCLUB is set to be transformed into a lap dancing club after councillors granted a Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) licence.

Kinky Koala on Friar Street will be changed to Black Diamond and offer adult entertainment seven days a week from 9pm to 3am.

The Lodge on Abattoirs Road is currently the only other venue of this nature in Reading and concerns were raised about the location of the venue in the heart of the town centre.

Clyde Masson, lead officer for Reading Borough Council, said: "I do not think this is appropriate. This is a busy thoroughfare for everybody to use.

"It should not be suited to one particular type of person at any time of the day and there is a danger that granting an SEV for this premises will exclude people from the town centre."

He also took issue with the applicant's efforts to survey the town centre and said it only took one child to be affected for the venue to be unsuitable.

Plans for dance booths with full nudity have been outlined by the current general manager Simon Bayfield.

Kinky Koala opened on Friar Street in December, a year after The Treehouse bar lost its licence.

Sarah Clover, representing the applicant, added: "Friar Street is not a particularly logical route to the train station. There has been a suggestion that families passing by might be affected, but to me there is absolutely no reason for this to happen.

"The venue will be open from 9pm, by which time all these families will have left the town centre.

Thames Valley Police did not object to the SEV for Black Diamond, but did make a number of suggestions.

Simon Wheeler, a member of the force's licensing team, recommended that dancers do not drink while they are working and said hiring male and female door staff could help protect 'vulnerable women' from potentially 'rowdy' customers.

He said there were very few issues of crime and disorder in this area and there was no reason to believe a SEV would add to his concern.