A BAR featuring topless lap dancers would be too hot for Bolton to handle, the council has decided.

Councillors turned down an application for a public entertainment licence yesterday on the grounds it would be "offensive to public decency".

An application was made for a licence to operate a bar called Too Hot to Handle at Manor Street, Bolton town centre.

The Rochdale-based businessman Stanley Fogo, who already operates a lap dancing club in Blackpool, and the man behind the Bolton club, described the decision as prudish.

He said: "It is absolutely ridiculous. They allow sex shops and the Ann Summers shop, but they turn this down.

"People see far worse when they look at Page Three girls.

"This would have been a club where people would have had to pay to go in and we operate very strict rules.

"This would be a fun place, not be sleazy.

"The club in Blackpool has been open for five years and we've not had any problems at all."

Mr Fogo, who was hoping to open the club before Christmas, said he would appeal against the decision. Mr Fogo and one of his lap dancers went to yesterday's meeting of the council's licensing and environmental regulation committee where the application was discussed.

He said: "They listened to us and when we went out of the room while they made their decision, I was confident that they would allow it. But they turned it down."

Cllr Don Eastwood, committee chairman, said: "We felt it was not for Bolton.

"If people want that sort of thing they can go to Blackpool or Manchester.

"We may be fuddy duddies, but we thought that it just wasn't right for Bolton."