The House of Lancaster is the name of both a current strip club in Toronto that opened in 1983, and a former strip club in Etobicoke that operated from 1982 to 2017.
Both were opened by Spiro and Terry Koumoudouros.
Both clubs were opened by brothers Spiro and Terry Koumoudouros[1] and were ranked the third best strip club by BlogTO in 2012.[2]
The House of Lancaster in Etobicoke was a strip club located in a residential area on The Queensway.[3] Most of the club was occupied by female dancers targeting male customers, although the Foxxes Den-branded west wing of the building employed male dancers targeting female customers.[4]
The club opened in 1982, and was initially branded as the Hollywood Tavern.[5]
A male dancer was arrested and charged with sexual assault in 2009.[6][7] The conviction of another male dancer in 2016 was quashed at the appeal court in 2019 granting him a right to a retrial.[8] The Etobicoke club was the scene of three shootings that occurred in 2013, 2014 and 2015.[5] The 2014 shooting happened on December 30, when a man was shot multiple times outside the club.[3] The shooting prompted residents to increase their advocacy against the presence of a strip club in a residential area.[3]
The club was sold in 2017,[9] and demolished by the new owners Parallax real estate company on February 21, 2018.[5]
The Toronto House of Lancaster strip club is located at 1215 Bloor Street[10] in Bloordale, Toronto[1] and club opened in 1983.[1] It closed during start of COVID-19 pandemic, but opened in August 2020 to customers who make phone reservations and wore face masks.[11]
In 2011, the club took hosted a poetry reading event as part of the 100,000 Poets for a Change event, featuring a reading by city councillor Ana Bailão.[12]
The club featured in episode of Degrassi High television series when fictional characters Joey Jeremiah, Snake, and Wheels decided to visit a strip club.[13]