The owners of a bar in Douglas have stated they are absolutely not opening a strip club.

Two weeks ago we reported that 1886 Bar and Grill Ltd had applied for an alteration to its licence to allow for adult entertainment.

Owner James Thompson said that the bar, which is in the old post office building on Regent Street, Douglas, intended to host cabaret ’Magic Mike’-style (a show featuring bare-chested men) events for women.

Mr Thompson said: ’When we developed 1886 we knew the top floor was ideal space for private hires and corporate events. We also were very aware that there was a market for people who wanted to go out and have a sit down two or three-course meal and some entertainment.

’The top floor "Loft" room has proved to be incredibly popular but we finally had a couple of dates free to start doing the cabaret-style nights with quality food and entertainment that we felt would be popular on the Isle of Man. One of the most requested nights after we conducted some market research was for a "ladies’ night".

’We spent a long time sourcing a high quality professional act comprising of a very popular and experienced drag queen compere and a couple of stunning buff chaps to do a "Magic Mike" themed event.’

Mr Thompson said that in this instance, it would have involved a male group staying in the island for the weekend to do a show with a two-course dinner for women. The event would have been a ticket-only over 18s event on the top floor of 1886, in a private, totally self-contained, room.

He added: ’We are a professional business and we take pride in the reputation we have worked hard to gain since opening. It was not going to be a sleazy event, just a load of ladies booking tables of 10 to have a laugh, a nice meal and a bit of saucy fun.’

The company applied for a change to its licence and, complying with court procedures, took out an advertisement in our newspaper to allow for public comment in court.

Our editorial staff saw that and decided to follow it up with a news story. The advertisement piqued readers’ interest. We tried to contact 1886 a number of times but did not receive a response before deadline.

Nevertheless, Mr Thompson was not happy about that or our coverage. He said: ’It would have been pertinent to actually talk to the 1886 management to find out what was going on and run a story with the actual details of what the licence variation was for.

’We are grateful though for the opportunity to put our side across now, though we would have preferred to have had the story stating both sides the first time.’