Spearmint Rhino

Spearmint Rhino is a chain of strip clubs that operates throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Central Europe, Russia and Australia. The company was started by Greg Wheeler and he still owns all properties 100%. The name "Spearmint Rhino" is a euphemism for the more salacious term "Hot and Horny".

In Britain, the chain has two clubs each in London and Birmingham, as well as clubs in Norwich, Bournemouth, Sheffield, Slough (Berkshire), and Heathrow (Colnbrook). All the UK locations provide topless dances (£10) and fully nude dances (£20). The chain's flagship London club was the first in the UK to offer fully nude dancing, prompting a "dirty war" with its main rival Stringfellow's, which at the time was topless-only. Peter Stringfellow sent private detectives armed with hidden cameras to videotape the going-ons in the private booths at Rhino. The revelations of dancers offering oral and full penetrative sex led to a national scandal, with the club losing its license briefly, before regaining it after giving assurances to clean up its act. Shortly afterwards, Stringfellow's went fully-nude.

The UK clubs differ from Spearmint Rhino's U.S. venues by not having an emphasis on guest visits by porn stars. The company's London venue, on Tottenham Court Road, is considered to be their flagship club in the UK. The company headquarters is located in Norco, California and is soon relocating in Las Vegas.

In April 2006, the Slough club made the headlines when Prince Harry visited the club for a party celebrating the end of his training at Sandhurst. [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006160335,00.html Dirty Harry's lap dance | The Sun |HomePage|News ] ]

Pop culture

On the Australian TV show "The Footy Show", host Sam Newman mentioned visiting the Spearmint Rhino.

In the "South Park" episode "The Return of Chef", the boys take Chef to a strip club called the "Peppermint Hippo", an obvious spoof. They also visit the strip club in "L'il Crime Stoppers" when trying to bust an amphetamine business.

In the "Drawn Together" episode "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine", Clara's father, a king, frequents a strip club called "Ye Spearmint Unicorn." Clara is upset that her father tells the strippers there that he loves them, but he has never expressed his love for her.

The Spearmint Rhino private corp. is the subject of a documentary series in the UK entitled "Inside the Spearmint Rhino". The series is hosted by Simon O'Brien and broadcast on Bravo in the UK. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373542/ "Inside Spearmint Rhino" (2003) ] ]

Spearmint Rhino was the target destination in one of the second hand car challenges of Top Gear, with presenter James May mistakenly calling it "Peppermint Rhinoceros". However, none of the presenters made it to the destination.

In the episode of "Entourage" titled "Return of the King" Ari Gold makes a joke referring to the fact that Vince's agent at the time, Amanda, worked a stint at the Spearmint Rhino.

References

External links

* [http://www.spearmintrhino.com Official website]
* [http://www.spearmintrhinolv.com/ Official website for Las Vegas Spearmint Rhino]