Landmark Epsom brothel faces axe

Club 574, operating as a discreet "gentleman's club" out of a grand old home at Greenwoods Corner in Epsom for 20 years, faces closure after being declined an exemption to operate as a brothel.

The club, which has recently invested $1.5 million upgrading facilities and employs about 45 prostitutes, yesterday lost a bid to stay open after a 3-2 vote by five Auckland City councillors.

Owner Anthony Grant was seeking an exemption to a bylaw banning brothels within a residential zone and within 250m of a place of worship on the grounds that closure would penalise him more than it would benefit the public.

Mr Grant, who has been involved with the club for about two years, said immediately afterwards that he would consider the decision before commenting. Among his options are an appeal to the High Court.

Councillor Faye Storer, who chaired the hearing, said she believed the public good outweighed the private downsides for the club.

"It is not good for a residential area, albeit on the edge of a small commercial area, to be a location for a brothel ... the bylaw said brothels will not be in a residential area," Faye Storer said.

Club 574 is the fourth, and largest, brothel to face closure after being declined an exemption from the council's brothel and commercial sex premise bylaws. Others, like The White House and its massage parlour, Monica's, in the historic Theosophical Society building in Queen St, have been granted exemptions to stay open.

Prostitution and brothel-keeping were decriminalised in June 2003. At yesterday's hearing, the lawyer for Club 574, Rob Weir, argued that the council had granted the club resource consent in June 1999 to operate as a massage parlour, or in other words as a "commercial sex premise".

Mr Weir said there had been commercial sex premises on the site for more than 20 years.

He said it would cost between $1.5 million to $2 million to buy a suitable property, or $100,000 to $150,000 a year to lease another property, to enable the business to relocate. Others costs include a $500,000 fit-out and loss of earnings.

Brothel bids

Brothel and commercial sex premise hearings in Auckland City:

* Granted dispensation

The White House, Queen St, City.
The Pelican Club, Newton Rd, Grafton.
Wingate Club, Wingate St, Avondale. Lipstix, Fort St, City.

* Refused dispensation

Club 574, Manukau Rd, Epsom.
Catherine's Health Centre, Queens Rd, Panmure.
Salon 33, Queens Rd, Panmure.
A-Salon, Albert St, City.

* Still to be heard

Sugar & Spice, Symonds St, Eden Tce.
Lavender Chinese Clinic, Jellicoe Rd, Panmure.
122 Mt Wellington Highway, Mt Wellington.
Pure Asia, Burleigh St, Grafton

Juliette's, Vincent St, City.
Salon 28, Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby

Flora's, Pitt St, City.
247 Massage, Symonds St, Newton.
The New Oriental, Broadway, Newmarket.
Sophie's Massage/Bar/Casino, Commerce St, City.