Mascara Club: Caringbah brothel expansion plans slammed
A pub owner has slammed a suburban Sydney brothel’s major expansion plans, saying it would attract ‘undesirables’ to the neighbourhood and create a ‘potential red light district’.
St George Shire Standard
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Plans to dramatically expand a suburban brothel have been knocked back by a Sydney council as the pub owners next door said it would attract “undesirables” to the industrial area.
The Mascara Club at 167 Taren Point Rd, Caringbah submitted an application to Sutherland Shire Council in June last year to refit their existing premises from four client rooms to seven.
The council has now refused the application on the back of strident opposition from the neighbours at Taren Point Hotel.
The owners at 105-117 Parraweena Rd, which incorporates Taren Point Hotel, Motel and Beacon Lighting Warehouse said the brothel proposal was “completely unacceptable” in a letter to council planning director Peter Barber.
“The brothel will attract “undesirables” to the locality,” the owners wrote.
“The continued approval of brothels will set precedents for the area and will create a potential “red light” district with the associated effects of alcohol and drugs use.”
The owners also complained about new signage drawing attention to the brothel from the main road, saying the adult services venue should be “discreet and private”.
“We have spent a large sum of money over the past few years to create a family-oriented establishment with a substantially upgraded restaurant, bistro, hotel and motel and a large external children’s play area,” the owners wrote.
“The hotel has become a major attraction for families with children to eat in the bistro and dining area for lunch and dinner, and we also have numerous schoolchildren on sporting trips staying at the hotel.”
The pub owners said it was inappropriate to have a brothel near a family hotel and it would discourage other tenants from moving into vacant properties in the surrounding industrial precinct.
Under the proposed plan the brothel’s new fire exit would have funnelled staff and patrons into the hotel’s property.
“We refuse to give them consent to access our property under any circumstances,” the owners wrote.
“This is totally unacceptable and we object in the strongest terms.”
However, the pub owners then showed uncharacteristic concern for the staff and patrons of the venue under the proposed plan to almost double the number of service rooms.
“The reception area is tiny and not suitable for seven “sex rooms” – one small toilet for a minimum of 15 people (seven sex workers, seven clients and one receptionist) would not be adequate,” the owners wrote.
“They have not provided any area for a lounge for the seven sex workers to shower, rest or eat – this will cause customers and patrons to loiter and smoke in the street external to the premises.”
The Mascara Club operates at the rear of a commercial factory with a maximum of seven sex workers on site between 10am and 5am seven days a week.
They employ almost 50 women in total.
