WINDHAM, N.H. - A Florida-based entrepreneur is looking to expand his Goldfinger chain of high-end gentlemen’s clubs to New Hampshire. Despite a 1998 town ban on nude dancing, Dean Cohen plans to offer topless dancing at his prospective club, telling reporters that the 1998 ban will not hold up in court.
“This is the Ritz-Carlton of adult entertainment,” Cohen, who has helped open dozens of other strip clubs across the United States, told the Eagle-Tribune. Cohen noted that the prospective club would include several stages, dance booths, a restaurant, as well as mainstream entertainment such as comedians and musicians.
The club, which would be located in a zone legally zoned for adult entertainment, would be Cohen’s fourth Goldfinger club, with other branches in Reno, West Palm Beach, and Sunrise, Florida.
Planning Director Al Turner Jr. and Building Inspector Mike McGuire are reviewing Cohen’s plans. Turner told the Eagle-Tribune that the plans appear to also require Planning Board approval, which would mean holding public hearings and notifying abutters.
Windham has only one other adult establishment, a video store called Next 2 Nothing; which would be only a short distance from the proposed location for Cohen’s club.
According to the Eagle-Tribune, the initial plans for Next 2 Nothing, which included nude dancing in private booths, drew strong opposition from residents and clergy when they were announced in 1998. Nude dancing, however, was banned in Windham shortly after that, and the store — which sells sexually explicit videos, novelties, and magazines — chose to remove that element from its plans. The store opened with little criticism in 1999.
