Backlash ends sexpo plans

Boobs on Bikes and the Erotica Lifestyles Expo are not coming to New Plymouth this year following a public backlash.

"It was going to happen but with all the controversy we've been copping and all the negatives from everywhere, it's not happening now," Erotica's owner and porn mogul Steve Crow said from Auckland yesterday.

Steve Crow and his Inglewood brother, David Crow, bought the New Plymouth and Districts RSA at Strandon and also bailed out the debt-ridden club last year.

The two are planning an extensive development for the site, named the Te Ara project.

Amid negative reaction, Steve Crow last month promised the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce that the site would not be converted into a brothel, strip club, adult shop or "anything at all to do with the sex industry".

But Mr Crow's Erotica lifestyles expo website advertises a three-day expo at New Plymouth's Te Ara at 434 Devon St East for $20 a head in November. When contacted by the Taranaki Daily News yesterday, Mr Crow admitted that the expo, which would have been at Te Ara, included strip shows.

However, recent bad publicity and a public backlash from New Plymouth people have caused him to pull the pin.

"I just think it's going to backfire if we do," Mr Crow said.

And, as a result, the expo's associated controversial street parade, Boobs on Bikes, would also no longer be staged, Mr Crow said.

The RSA would now miss out on $18,000 rent and locals who had asked for the show to come to New Plymouth would also be disappointed.

His company had also looked into hiring the TSB Stadium which was too big and too expensive and had an option to rent the East End Skating Rink but lack of parking and the high costs of dressing up the rink venue were against it, he said.

Mr Crow said the RSA had been hurt by the recession with takings "well down".

"My brother has had to step in to manage the place fulltime since July 2008. They would have been shut by last Christmas if we hadn't because they had lost so much money over 10 years.

"When we settled we paid them a lot of money. That should have left them debt free but they didn't tell us about a $100,000 loan they had from a bank."

The RSA had been losing $20,000 a month, "so we had to step in".

The venue, heavily booked for events such as weddings until the end of February, was now breaking even.

The casual Friday and Saturday nights needed attention.

"As much as we love the old guys they don't spend the money.

"The reality is the need to get income so we can provide the service to the members. It does a lot of good community work."