A FORMER football club mascot who stunned politics in a North-East town when he was voted in as mayor, has apologised after he was spotted at a saucy strip show.

Mayor of Hartlepool Stuart Drummond, who was Hartlepool United's H'Angus the Monkey - attending matches and functions in an ape suit - until his shock election, was seen drinking in a pub as two teenage strippers danced on stage.

Yesterday, the 28-year-old mayor said he had not been watching the exotic dancers, but admitted he had made a monkey of himself by drinking in The Office pub, in the town's Church Street, and described the episode as "an error of judgement".

The show featured two women, aged 18 and 19, who stripped one another before cavorting on stage and kissing.

Mr Drummond, a former call centre worker who swept to victory in the mayoral elections in May by campaigning in his monkey suit, admitted he visited The Office one Sunday last month after a non-league football match.

He said he had visited the pub with team members of his Sunday league club, Rugby FC, following a County Cup match.

He said: ''I did go to the pub for a drink after the football match. While I was in there, I was standing at the bar talking to my friends, not taking any great interest in what was happening on the stage.

"Nevertheless, it was an error of judgement to be there and I apologise if I have offended anyone.

"I have learned so much in the first five months and have now realised it is inappropriate to be associated with events like this."

Lap dancer Keri Mocklar, 19, from Thornaby said: "I wouldn't have thought a man of his standing would have turned up at an event like this. I think he will get into a bit of trouble for it."

But her agent, Carole Kirby, owner of Horden, east Durham-based Playboys International, said she did not think Mr Drummond had done anything wrong.

She said: "I think they the audience should be left alone, as long as they are just watching and not participating. I don't think there's any harm in that."

Ged Appleyard, manager of The Office, said strip shows were held every Sunday.

The 36-year-old Yorkshireman said: ''It's just exotic dancers. That's all it is, just something for the lads on a Sunday afternoon."

The dancers regularly attract crowds of between 40 and 60 drinkers and perform for about an hour

A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: "The mayor accepts he was there for the duration of the show."

H'Angus was notorious for his naughty antics which often got him in trouble with police and officials at the Third Division club.

On one occasion he was hauled out of Hartlepool's Victoria Ground by police who thought he was drunk, and ran into trouble at Scunthorpe after he simulated sex with a female employee carrying out the half-time lottery draw.

Last night, Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson said: "Although many people find attending sex shows tasteless and inappropriate, my view is that what he Drummond doesin his private life is his own business.

"I'm more concerned about what he does in his public life and what he is achieving for the people of the town."