The town council of Kópavogur gave strip club Goldfinger a positive review on Thursday, which means that the club can have its operating license renewed. Reykjavík City recently gave strip clubs Ódal and Vegas permission to do the same.
Both decisions were based on a ruling from the Ministry of Justice, 24 Stundir reports. In May, the ministry ruled that the Chief of Police in the Capital Region Stefán Eiríksson should review his report on stripping in Goldfinger. The report was negative and renewing the club’s operating license was not recommended, as visir.is reported.
Stripping has raised controversy in Iceland with private dancing banned on July 1, 2007 and Goldfinger losing its operating license in August 2007. Goldfinger has since operated on temporary licenses.
Gudrídur Arnardóttir, representative of the Social Democrats in the opposition in the Kópavogur town council, told 24 Stundir that she had voted against renewing Goldfinger’s permit for stripping.
Arnardóttir said that although strip shows are banned according to law, they are difficult to prevent. “We wanted to try it, reject the permit and see what would happen. It is incredible that the laws state that dancing in the nude [for money] is banned but that it cannot be prevented.”
Click here to read a feature on stripping in Goldfinger, published in the 2006 winter issue of Iceland Review.
