A CONTROVERSIAL sex shop owner is planning to open a lap-dancing club in North Yorkshire.

John Middleton says he has pinpointed at least three possible locations in the county for a members-only club.

Mr Middleton is being prosecuted in a long-running row over a caravan he uses to advertise a website and his Pleasure Zone shop in Darlington, which sells sex toys and lingerie.

Hambleton District Council has begun court proceedings because it claims the caravan, on land next to the A1 near Thirsk, represents unauthorised advertising.

The authority has rebuffed efforts by Mr Middleton for consent to build on the four-acre plot of land where the caravan is parked, with a view to pursuing his lap-dancing dream.

Mr Middleton, who has previously been refused permission by local job centres to advertise for masseurs, said: "The plan for a lap-dancing club on that particular site has been abandoned.

"But in due course I will be looking at other locations so it is still definitely on the cards.

"I have researched this subject in America and I believe there is a market in North Yorkshire for lap-dancing."

The proposed club would include a massage room, bar and restaurant.

Mr Middleton added: "It would be a gentlemen's club and people would pay a monthly membership fee. If they had too much to drink on a particular night, there would be bedrooms that they could stay in."

But Ian Bainbridge, of the Christian Institute campaign group, said: "The fact that there is demand for this type of facility does not mean it is right."