clubs

IT cheekily kept the home fires burning during the Blitz, and now Britain’s oldest strip club is set to reopen its doors once more.

The Windmill was one of the most iconic venues in Soho, where showgirls served up cocktails and stripteases while air raid sirens wailed outside.

Its famous motto, “Never closed,” was reworked into “Never clothed” — as the Windmill Girls bared all to keep punters smiling as war waged on.

Now the venue is roaring back to life as the Rhino At The Windmill after being forced to close due to Covid restrictions.

It was the club that made strip clubs the beating heart of Soho – and paved the way for hundreds more around the country.

Beloved by celebs and ordinary punters alike, Britain’s strip clubs have sparked scenes of debauchery and excess, which have gone down in legend.

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Here, we reveal the wildest tales from over the decades.

Rihanna’s head loss

At Stringfellows, pop superstar Rihanna is believed to have got a bit too close and personal with some of the club’s performers.

It was back in 2011 when the S&M songstress booked a private booth at the club – but ended up breaking the rules.

Rihanna – who is no stranger to getting pulses racing herself – is rumoured to have got a bit carried away with the show and ended up sticking her head between one of the women’s legs.

Her exuberance earned her a telling off from one of the burly bouncers who look after the club’s dancers.

It doesn’t seem to have deterred Rihanna though, who has been spotted back in the club on several occasions since.

Footie star’s eye-watering bill

Newcastle star Kieran Trippier was ‘stitched up’ by a group of friends who spent close to £10,000 on a strip club bill – before putting the defender’s name on the tab.

The Newcastle star was not believed to be present at the For Your Eyes Only club – however, his name still appeared on the bill, which included 76 £100 tokens for personal dances.

The bill was a staggering £9,663 and was believed to have been racked up by Trippier’s friends who play for National League side Gateshead.

A source told the The Sun: “Kieran has visited FYEO before but this bill was run up by some of the lads he knows at Gateshead. He wasn’t there.

“This seems to be their idea of a joke on Kieran. Who knows who footed the bill.”

Bieber’s revolting encounter

Notorious London nightclub The Box is infamous for its explicit late night cabaret shows, but Justin Bieber allegedly got more than he bargained for after a night of partying.

Drag queen A’Whora told GK Barry’s podcast Saving Grace that a few years ago, a revolting punter “threw semen at Justin”.

A shocked Grace then asked how he reacted, and A’Whora claimed Bieber joked: “Gotta keep an eye out for Selena!”.

The quip was a reference to lyrics from Justin’s hit song Beauty and Beat.

Whether or not A’Whora’s memory was entirely accurate has never been confirmed, but such an incident certainly wouldn’t be out of place given what else goes on at The Box.

Some of the celeb haunt’s most jaw-dropping shows have included simulated threesomes and a performer named “Laqueefa”, who played well-known tunes with her genitalia.

Corrie star’s dancer wedding

Corrie star Chris Quinten went into the lucrative strip club business after he left the cobbles.

But he faced a mass walk-out at his Secrets club after staff claimed their pay had been cut.

Back in 2019 the girls were said to have gone on a one day strike after he changed the rules on what percentage they got from punters.

At Secrets, a three-minute nude table dance cost £30. Half an hour with a stripper and champagne was £350.

The dancers claimed their earnings from the club in Hammersmith, West London, were halved. But after the strike the club agreed to make changes, with one stripper saying: “Our strike proved a success and we got what we wanted – fair rights and wages.”

Chris, then 61, went on to get engaged to one of his club’s dancers – 21-year-old Robyn Dellabarre, and celebrated with a party at the club.

Bedded five dancers… in a week

Blue star Lee Ryan has never been one to shy away from controversy.

But during his 2014 stint in the Celebrity Big Brother house he confessed to being banned from a strip club for bedding five of its dancers on five consecutive nights.

In a conversation in the house Lee confessed: “I walked into a club once right, I mean this is back in the day, I was a lot younger, I mean I would never do this these days.

“I walked in there right, this is probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done, I got five girls’ numbers when they were all dancing, I got the fittest girls’ numbers that were in there.”

Then he went on to say he slept with them all on consecutive days from Monday to Friday.

But when the girls compared notes and realised what he had done, they weren’t best pleased with him.

Lee then said he was subsequently banned from the club for some reason.

A-lister gets shirty

Back in 2010 Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland’s night out at Stringfellows came to a rather abrupt end.

The actor was said to have been tossed out of the London club shirtless and drunk after an altercation with the bouncers.

The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winner, best known for his role as Jack Bauer in TV series 24, was described by onlookers as “absolutely screamingly paralytic” and was put in a headlock by security as he lashed out during a drinking bender.

But club owner Peter Stringfellow later played down the incident, writing on his blog: “(Sutherland) had a wonderful time, was incredibly charming to all the staff, very generous to all the girls and made friends with my security people.

“Around about 3.15am he decided it would be very funny to take his shirt off. When it was explained to him very gently that that was the job of the girls and not the customers he burst out laughing. His friend thought that this would be a good time for them to go home.”

Stripper’s undercover mission

Stringfellow was the undisputed king of the strip clubs – until a new rival club started to steal his girls and his crown.

Crowds were flocking to the new Spearmint Rhino club in Camden – leaving Peter and his scantily clad dancers in an empty club.

So he hatched a daring plan to foil the opposition.

Peter sent one of his longest-serving dancers as an undercover spy to get a job at Spearmint Rhino to find out what all the fuss was about and why the girls there were earning so much money.

But the cunning plot failed miserably. The dancer quickly realised she too could earn more money at Spearmint Rhino, where the girls were offered mega money for full nudity, and promptly never returned to Stringfellows.

Inter signed Ronaldo and Vieri for world-record fees in the late 1990s, when Serie A was the envy of world football, blessed with the game’s most talented stars.

AC Milan then beat Juventus to win the Champions League in 2003, losing to Liverpool on penalties in the final two years later, before defeating the Reds to become European champions again in 2007.

While there have been more recent successes in Europe’s other competitions – Atalanta won the Europa League in 2024, Roma won the Conference League in 2021 – Jose Mourinho’s Inter were the last Italian side to win the Champions League in 2010.

Inter’s European exit comes despite being 10 points clear of rivals AC Milan in Serie A and a further four ahead of defending champions Napoli, who failed to make it out of the Champions League’s league phase.

“It is a piece of history,” said journalist Vincenzo Credendino. “Speaking about Italy and Inter, this is one of the worst pieces.

“Inter are the best in Italy, but maybe it is time to think not about what can happen in one or two years, but about 10 or 15 years – and on that side we can see generally Italian football is not on the same level of top European leagues.”

The national team must also win through a play-off in March to avoid missing out on a third successive World Cup this summer, having last lifted the trophy in 2006.

“It is a difficult time for Italian football and this shows it,” added European football expert Julien Laurens on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Today, Inter Milan put pressure on but it was not enough from them. They have been the best team in Italy for the last few years. And Napoli as well, they haven’t even come close.

“It’s terrible for Italian football at the moment.”

Inter won five of their opening eight league phase games in Europe to finish 10th, with Juventus 13th and Atalanta 15th.

Yet in the play-offs, all have come unstuck against sides who finished lower in the table but play a more intense brand of football.

“What does it say about Italian football? That something needs to be changed,” added Verri.

“The level of Italian football is poor. It is a structural issue. We play very slow football. You can ask any manager in Italy and they will all say the same.

“I was talking to Claudio Ranieri the other day and he said: ‘Look, when I was in England at Leicester… people don’t train more than in Italy. They just do it with another intensity, and then they keep up that intensity during the games.’

“We play slow, and in Europe you suffer.”

If you’re looking for alternatives to Benidorm, there’s a destination that’s becoming increasingly popular with Brits who are seeking sunshine, inexpensive pints, and lively nightlife

Benidorm is the perfect choice of destination if you like a lively atmosphere, plenty of beach space, and clubs within walking distance of your hotel. However, in recent years, many tourists have been looking for alternatives to the Spanish town, and if you’re bored of Beni, there’s another fun destination about 3.5 hours from the UK.

Sunny Beach in Bulgaria has many similarities to Benidorm. Both resorts were developed in the 1960s with the package holiday boom, and Sunny Beach’s promenade with its high rise hotels could easily be mistaken for Benidorm’s Levante Beach area.

However, with some tourists complaining about Benidorm prices in recent years, Sunny Beach offers a cheaper alternative. YouTuber Travel with Col made a video of some of Sunny Beach’s prices in June of last year and showed deals such as two cocktails for £4.60, and beers for £1.50.

As the name implies, Sunny Beach sits on a long stretch of sandy coast. The Blue Flag beach is about six miles long, and there are quieter spots to be found for those who want to relax or enjoy more of a family-friendly atmosphere. The sand gently slopes into the Black Sea, and waters are shallow, clear, and calm, ideal for swimming or snorkelling.

Central Beach is at the heart of the action, and along the coast is a huge number of beach bars, nightclubs, and large hotels. By day, you’ll see people lounging on sunbeds with cocktails and enjoying DJ sets, while at night, the clubs are packed with people dancing until dawn. Many clubs open until five or six am, just as the sun comes up, but some spots such as Cacao Beach open 24-hours a day, so the party never stops.

Inland, the town is a tourist haven, full of shops selling beachwear, a market with lots of colourful stalls, and inexpensive fast food joints. You’ll find restaurants serving cuisine from around the world, as well as a few Bulgarian places where you can try Balkan dishes. Sunny Beach Amusement Park is popular with families, offering fairground rides and rollercoasters, while the Action Aquapark has pools, slides, and a lazy river.

Most Brits arrive via Burgas Airport, which has seasonal connections with airlines including easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, TUI, and Wizz Air. It’s about half an hour from Sunny Beach, and has good public transport connections.

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It’s worth taking a day trip to Burgas to explore this historic Bulgarian city. Attractions include The Sea Garden, famous for its pier which looks a lot like something you’d see at the British seaside. Dino Park is an amusement park with animatronic dinosaurs, allowing you to feel like you’ve stepped back in time, and there’s the vast Mall Galleria where you’ll find lots of popular European chains.

Finish your day with a boat trip to St. Anastasia Island. Dating back to medieval times, this tiny 2.5 acre island has a monastery, museum, and historic lighthouse to explore.

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