Currituck loses again in topless club dispute | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
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London has appealed his case every time the county has ruled against him since he opened the nightclub - Mermaids Bar & Grill - in 1994, and for the most part, has defiantly kept his dancers dancing topless. From the start, county officials have promised to shut him down one way or another.
Currituck lost the latest round, giving Headlights OBX - the club's new name - the OK to reopen its doors, offer topless dancing again and reapply for a new ABC license, according to an order from Superior Court Judge Henry W. Hight Jr.
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Mermaid's is a local institution. It's not somewhere you want to go more than once or twice, and I'd say conservatively about 20% of my graduating class in high school has worked there at one point or another. But it's a reminder of the outer banks of old- places like the old Oasis, the Green Dolphin, and the Blue Crab. Places where a working man could get a drink, probably get a job, and definitely get in a fight.
The legend goes that Robert started Mermaids on a dare from a buddy who said there's no way you can keep a nudie bar open in Currituck. And here we are almost 20 years later.
But anyway, the county has spent decades and god knows how much money fighting this thing in court, and they've never won. Perhaps it's time to throw in the towel and wait for Robert to retire and sell the place before they turn it into some rental cottages or another gas station/bank/restaurant.
Considering the town of Nags Head in the past decade has not only fought off a potential adult bookstore (in the old Cineplex by the bowling alley), but shut down the Nags Head Playhouse (arcade/laser tag/snack bar/party facility) under the guise of a ban on "dancing" like they're the town from Footloose, it's surprising Currituck County, with ostensibly a stronger case (Mermaid's was originally licensed under false pretenses) has yet to permanently shut the place down.