Hooters: coming to a town near you?
Well, most probably, unless you do something about it! The tacky and sexist US chain is currently on the look out for “high visibility” restaurant locations in (take a deep breath):
Aberdeen
Basildon, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bournemouth, Bristol
Cambridge Cardiff, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Colchester, Coventry, Crawley, Croyden
Derby
Edinburgh, Enfield, Exeter
Glasgow, Gloucester, Guildford
Ipswich
Kingston Upon Hull, Kingston
Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London (Central), Luton
Manchester, Middlesborough, Milton Keynes
Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northampton, Norwich
Oxford
Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston
Reading, Richmond upon Thames, Romford
Sheffield, Southampton, Southend, Staines, Stoke on Trent, Sunderland, Swansea, Swindon
Watford
Restaurants in Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol and London are set to open this year. One click on that link should also be enough to show anyone that Hooters really isn’t about the BBQ chicken wings…
If you’re not too happy about the prospect of a restaurant based on female sex appeal and sexual innuendo aimed primarily at men opening in your town, then make sure you keep up to date with planning applications (they should be on your City Council website) and get those complaints and petitions flowing. While the feminist perspective is most obviously the greatest issue for F Word readers, for the purposes of blocking the application it’s important to highlight the potential effect such an establishment could have on the local area. In Nottingham, a visit to Hooters forms part of stag night packages ending up in strip clubs: not necessarily the kind of clientele other restaurants and bars may want around. Yes, that sounds stereotypical and snobbish, but this is the kind of approach that needs to be taken if we want to stop Hooters “busting out” all over the UK.
While this may not be the biggest issue facing UK women, and while Hooters is not a strip club, the fact that the chain is not yet established here means we stand a better chance of preventing it opening than we do of tackling existing chains like Spearmint Rhino. Hooters reinforces the damaging and patriarchal view of women as sex objects for male gratification, and a nationwide campaign will enable us to encourage debate on the issue and challenge this view.
So get to it!
Posted by Laura Woodhouse on 4 April 2008, at 6:04 PM | Comments (13)
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Stephanie said:
the idea of this 'restaurant' coming here makes me sick, just shows how things are slipping. Will definitely keep an eye out on my council website. I don't understand how a place like Hooters can reconcile it's main selling point with the new law that has come into place about employers safe guarding their employees from sexual harrassment from customers.
Posted on 05 April 2008 at 12:03 AM
Cruella said:
For me it IS a big issue to have these places springing up all over the place. As many of you are aware - I'm currently fighting the opening of a pole and table dancing (what stupid euphemistic words STRIPPING) bar at the end of my road. One of the things is - and I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way - when I walk past a place like a strip bar, or a porn shop, or hooter, my self-confidence drops about 50%. I just feel miserable that I live in a world where women are viewed that way and that my view (that these places should not exist) has been over-ridden by a bunch of misogynists who want to objectify women. And 50% off my self-confidence every time I leave the house is enough to seriously damage my career, relationships and, err, life.
Posted on 05 April 2008 at 2:25 AM
Steph Jones said:
I shall certainly keep an eye on any applications and media coverage of the one due to arrive in my area. The whole 'Hooters experience' is just so prehistoric - something I would expect to have been tried in the late 70's/early 80's and since abandoned. *Throws hands up in despair*
Posted on 05 April 2008 at 9:52 AM
E-Visible Woman said:
Will they still have to make a planning application if they're not intending to build a new building?
Will they have to apply for planning permission if they're just moving into an existing building?
Posted on 05 April 2008 at 2:06 PM
Corrine Edwards said:
Gosh, It is the 21st century, and we seem to be going backwards.
I find the whole belittling and demeaning jobs that are left to women very dispiriting. The hatred from men manifesting itself in so many ways that its almost normal. I wonder if men are even aware of their attitudes, getting their own way all the time.
It is tiring sticking up for equality, now wonder some women just give in.
But then we become complicate in our own oppression. What to do?
Posted on 05 April 2008 at 7:36 PM
Laura Woodhouse said:
From Sheffield City Council - I assume this applies elsewhere too:
"If an application is made it must advertised in the press on one occaision within 10 days of making the application and a blue notice must be displayed on the premises on the day of application for 28 days.From the date of application you have 28 days in which to make relevant representations. The representations must relate to one or more of the four licensing objectives which are:- prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm."
So a planning application has to be made whether the premises are new or existing.
Posted on April 7, 2008 8:49 AM
Qubit said:
It seems very hard to protest against a Hooters when on my walk to my boyfriend's flat, down fairly main streets I pass about 3 unashamed strip clubs. These aren't places down an alley that try to hide away they have flashy fronts in fairly main areas of the town. These places would be very difficult to miss, they aren't places I searched out to prove a point.
Strip clubs have become so main stream these days that I don't actually feel justified protesting against them since all I will get is a mouthful of abuse from both men and women about how I have no sense of fun and these places are harmless to everyone including those who work in them. It is also seen as an innate male right to go to a strip club whether he has a girlfriend or not with any girlfriend who protests being an evil bitch. This opinion annoys me slightly but I can't find any argument against it so I end up just sitting there feeling guilty for being wrong.
Posted on 07 April 2008 at 11:09 AM
Sophia said:
See the Guardian article appearing today, Friday April 11, 2008:
'It's more like a strip club than a restaurant'
Hooters, the American restaurant chain that prides itself on its scantily clad waitresses, has ambitious plans to expand in the UK, which are already facing formidable feminist opposition. Julie Bindel reports.
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2272815,00.html
Posted on 11 April 2008 at 9:41 AM
Kat said:
Hooters is seedy if you ask me. How are men supposed to respect women with one of those in each town?
I have just had a baby,I am glad it is a boy! I would hate to be bringing up a girl. How could she be safe now? Hooters bars give men the wrong message.
Posted on 13 April 2008 at 9:50 PM
Sophia said:
Hooters won their licence to trade in Southend-on-Sea today. A very sad day for us all. It has become clear to me that the 2003 Licensing Act cannot protect us from this crap descending on our high streets. I have gained a real insight into how this whole process works, so if anyone is embarking on a campaign to stop Hooters coming to their town, please contact me: notohooters@googlemail.com
Posted on 14 April 2008 at 5:14 PM
Bruno said:
Looking forward to the one in Leeds, I have been to one in the USA for my 21st birthday & really enjoyed it. Great idea.
Posted on 18 April 2008 at 6:42 PM
Sophia said:
Well, as long as you are happy Bruno we won't worry about employees being harrassed, or local communities being shat on. That is all fine then - the campaign is off ladies!
Posted on 21 April 2008 at 2:38 PM
Lisa said:
I actually disagree with the vast majority of the comments made here. I don't see that strip clubs are as shameful as many of these comments suggest. I have a friend who works in one, she's a respectable girl from a good background, and has put herself through university whilst earning the £300 a night fee for dancing. This business, as much as it is part of the sex industry, has nothing to do with prostitution, and often, little to do with drugs, that is why they are licensed and regulated. Personally, I have never been to a strip club, nor would I go, but as long as they abide by the law, which has been set down for just this reason, then I can't really say that I'm overly bothered. As far as I'm concerned, Hooter's is of the same vein.
Posted on 06 June 2008 at 2:33 PM