An Armley swingers club and gay sauna WILL operate longer opening hours, it was decided today.
Pandora’s swingers club and Pandora’s sauna are both based at unit 2 in Ledgard Way and bosses had last month been asked by councillors on the south and west plans panel to rethink plans to extend their opening hours.
Bosses at Pandora’s had applied for retrospective permission to open from 10am to 1am Monday to Thursday, 10am to 2am Friday and Saturday and to midnight on Sundays.
The moves had lead to a number of objections, including Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves and Armley’s councillors who said the businesses were unsuitable so close to a residential area and also raised concerns about parking.
At a plans meeting at Leeds Civic Hall today, the extended opening hours were approved, with a temporary permission of 12 months. The applicants will then need to re-apply and the timings will be re-assessed based on environmental impact studies carried out by the council.
A planning officer’s report said Steam Complex needed earlier opening hours for it to remain financially viable and that bosses were refusing council requests to reduce their proposed opening times. The report adds:
“…Two separate businesses will operate from the one site, and due to the different business models employed the two businesses cannot operate side by side. Consequently one business will operate from 10 till 7pm, after which the other business takes over and operates until the latest closing time. Due to the need to incorporate both businesses under the one roof the hours cannot be reduced further from those requested as it would in effect make the earlier business unviable.”
The report concludes:
“… officers remain of the view that the proposed hours of operation would not have an unduly adverse impact on residential amenity, parking requirements, highway safety or the character and appearance of the immediate or wider area. The premises sits within a commercial setting and all activities would by their nature be restricted to within the building, other than the smoking shelter.”
Steam moved into the unit of Ledgard Way following a fire at its former premises in Armley two years ago.