It used to be famous for sand castles and surf, but efforts by businessmen to turn Newquay into the sex capital of the southwest are killing the Cornish resort’s family-holiday business, according to its B&B owners.

Newquay now has five strip clubs licensed to offer both male and female nudity, and townsfolk are outraged. “The council says it’s trying to establish a cafe culture here, but all we’ve got is a Costa Coffee and a strip of lap-dancing joints,” said family B&B owner Suzi Death.

“I’ve had guests saying they won’t come back to Newquay, because all you see in the town centre now is strip clubs. When you’ve got children, you don’t want to have to walk past gangs of sex tourists.”

Local campaigner Tracey Earnshaw believes the council has been duped by businessmen who have persuaded the licensing authority that Newquay needs such entertainment to attract high-spending visitors. “The councillors seem genuinely to believe that these places are upmarket gentlemen’s clubs rather than seedy strip clubs,” she said.

“They think buying a lap dance is like buying a cappuccino, but our concern is that it will lead to prostitution. Girls have to pay the clubs to dance, so, if they don’t make up the money one way, they’ll make it another. The council talks about Brand Newquay, but sex tourism isn’t a brand we want to be associated with.”

Wyn Pheby, a Newquay pensioner, said it was breaking her heart to see what was happening. “I spoke to several holidaymakers who say they have been coming here for 30 years and they won’t be coming back,” she said. “People will just think this is a sleazy little town.”

Restormel borough council, which granted the licences, said it could do little to stop Newquay heading towards the red light because the Licensing Act did not allow it to deliberate on applications where no objections had been received from the public. Earnshaw, however, thinks the council may be hiding behind the law.

“They didn’t receive any objections because the licence applications didn’t say they were going to be strip clubs,” she said. “The council said it was because they weren’t allowed to solicit objection.”

Dan Rogers, the local MP, said Newquay needed to mop up its sleaze: “In my view, we are seeing too many of these sorts of clubs opening in Newquay. The law seems to be weighted in favour of the applicants. That’s not fair and must change.”

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