Opinion

Baring indecency

They were the days, when after work on a Thursday or a Friday or on a Saturday afternoon we'd join the chanting frenzy of a strip show at the pub. Take me back just for a day, and on Thursday morning at The Royal Inn Hotel at Waratah for tits on toast I went some way back to those days of the 1980s. The waitress wasn't exactly topless when she delivered my scrambled eggs with diced capsicum and Spanish onion, which was excellent value for $7, but there wasn't a great deal in it. I mean, the top barely restrained her hooters, and the g-string didn't restrain much either. And as she teetered about on impossible heels I was transported back to The Exchange and The Albion and The Gates and The Oriental, and I could hear the chant of "get it off, get it off", I could see the twirling feather boas, the jugs lifting like horses on a merry-go-round as she swivels, and, finally, the legs stepping delicately out of the g-string. Beer was never guzzled so enthusiastically.

I was exhausted after breakfast at The Royal Inn and the first to leave, at 8.15, and can you imagine my horror when I learnt later that at 8.30 the waitress takes her top off for the last hour of breakfast!

Anyway ... why don't pubs have strippers these days? Have the rules changed? Dave Maher of Newcastle Licensing Police tells me that the same rules are enforced more strictly these days. It is, he tells me, an offence to allow an act of indecency in a hotel and that the community regards a stripper removing her g-string as such an act.

Can you believe that! Who is this community? Presumably it's a majority of people, so who are they? And who assesses their number?

And what has a stripper's nakedness got to do with anyone who chooses not to go to the pub's strip show because they disapprove of naked strippers? They're hardly going to be forced to endure the indecency.

Yes, I saw pub strip shows as a bit of fun - nay, as a rollicking great time! - but the bigger issue is the oppressive decency of this mysterious community. Just who assesses the community standard, and how? And do they ever review that assessment? These issues have to do with much more than pub strip shows.

Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 28/08/2009 7:44:00 PM | Comments (26)

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Um,...er I dunno what to say Jeff. You wouldve been the last person I thought would have attended such shows to be honest, I take it was a few years ago? Pubs with such shows were prominent in nearly every suburb when I turned 18, Collery Inn at Wallsend on a Wednesday night, Several Pubs in Newcastle / Islington etc were on nearly every night. Such shows demised I believe with the introduction of Cafe's and ritzy styles of eating habits, in particular a massive swing to pubs creating family atmospheres with kiddies activities etc. I can say I dont miss those days and glad to see the smut has moved on.

Posted by Dave B, 31/08/2009 10:27:08 AM, on The Herald

Smut to you, Dave. Tits to others.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 31/08/2009 11:29:33 AM

always reminds me of goldfish in a bowl....oh look a pair of tits...drink, drink, drink,...oh look a pair of jubblies, how nice, ...drink, drink, drink,..oh look a nice pair of tits, how wonderful,... drink, drink, drink. Just not enough of them on display is there!

Posted by suzhousid, 31/08/2009 11:11:35 AM, on The Herald

They'd be in short supply in China, wouldn't they, suz?

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 31/08/2009 11:30:24 AM

Jeff, is this another one of those I only went with a mate and the beer? To be honest i believe we have grown out of the pub stripper, Pubs seem to be a little up market these days. Very respectable places where the family go for dinner, or to watch live entertainment on a Sunday. I believe the community sets it's own standards, and i really have not heard that any publican wants the strippers back. On another note, alot of publicans won't have two up on ANZAC day anymore, because of the drunkenness and violence these days. Maybe in your day Jeff the blokes were better behaved, I could see the pub strip show today ending up a drunken brawl. I mean the worst that anyone would say to the strippers in your day was, "shake them up baby" "are those twins up for adoption?".

Posted by Buell, 31/08/2009 11:33:32 AM, on The Herald

I did inhale, Buell. The fact that you believe pubs have gone up market does not mean that one or more pubs might not have gone, or want to go, up market. Should not these pubs and their patrons have the right to position themselves in the market?

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 31/08/2009 11:45:35 AM

yep, got that right jeff...ah, but the girls are so very cute, regardless of lack of venues.

Posted by suzhousid, 31/08/2009 11:44:26 AM, on The Herald

Your a legend Jeff brave enough to tackle the issues ripping the moral fibres that tug at our politically correct fabric.What a great time the 70s /80s were choofing a ciggy on planes restaurants and busses,buck show nudie runs ,cheap schooners and green ginger wine was all that was on offer.I wager,NAY gaurantee if you took a vote of pub patrons not the latte toffee set as to whether or not to bring back what was once called a (smoko) were for a entry fee you get a keg johnny garfield and a stripper ,your answer would be a whole hearted YES PLEASE.Anyhow there are two pubs i know of still providing tits on toast (please feel freeto omit the names if necessary jeff)Percy hotel singleton and orana hotel blacksmiths.Two finer establishments you wont find,see you there jeff.PS it may sound like im taking the piss..............im not.

Posted by horse, 31/08/2009 11:57:12 AM, on The Herald

Yes, Horse, The Percy Hotel at Singleton has tits on toast between 7 and 10am on Fridays. Another Singleton pub, The Agricultural, has topless barmaids on Wednesday and Friday nights 5.30 to 8.30. Singleton does seem to be short of lunchtime titillation.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 31/08/2009 12:02:23 PM

Jeff, i am not the only one who sees pubs as up market. I also know a few publicans, and they would not have strippers because of the violence attached to such an open show. But i guess if you researched this article, you would have spoken to the publicans. Would you change watering holes to get some eye candy? As for the legislation, Pubs would need a entertainment licence, have it cleared with Licensing Police, I believe the G-string being the only garment left on is within the rules. So why don't pubs have the strippers? i think it is the reasons i have given, regarding the violence and stupidity that would bring the publicans undone. So basically men have stuffed it for themselves.

Posted by Buell, 31/08/2009 12:05:17 PM, on The Herald

Pub strippers have gone the way of yoyos, ouija boards, fondues and denim shoes. It's not a moral argument just an outdated concept which does bring memories...maybe it will come back someday

Posted by stevo, 31/08/2009 12:14:09 PM, on The Herald

We are fortunate to live on a rural property and on Sunday i went for a ride.......looking for a mate.I rode to the cattle camp,under the old apple gum,plenty of kikuyu and the new bull, but no one to be seen.Down to the creek where the lizards bath in the sun and dive in the water but no one there.Perhaps a look around the old spotted gum ,the one where the wedge tails have nested he had been there many times but no.So i rode out to the back corner,it's heavily timbered and another favoured spot you often see a goanna and they are big ,2-3 metres in length, he would be there for sure i thought, with no luck i headed along the ridge to the to the highest point , where you can see everything, but i couldn't see my mate.The last spot i tried was the picnic spot,among the casurinas with the lush weeping grass making an ideal resting place but alas he was not there this time.So finally i was back at the gate i had riden over 20k,looking for my mate........but to no avail.......perhaps i missed him down by the old iron bark,i will have a look next time.

Posted by chaff and oats, 31/08/2009 12:43:20 PM, on The Herald

I suppose it has a niche with some shift working clientele, but what would have been considered somewhat risqué back in the early 80's (Fridays afternoons at the Exchange in Hamilton spring to mind) is positively tame by today's standards. You'd probably see more flesh on SBS or an episode of Underbelly these days.

Posted by Directeur Sportif, 31/08/2009 12:45:57 PM, on The Herald

Jeff, I heard there is a similar presentation at the Gateway at Islington, but it's not call T on Toast. I'd be careful about ordering sausages as part of your breakfast.

Posted by Bahoo, 31/08/2009 12:51:34 PM, on The Herald

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