A lap-dancing club where police claimed cocaine abuse was rife could face being shut down.

Richmond police said they found traces of the class A drug in the toilets and saw one dancer dash into a cubicle and flush something away when officers raided the Piano Lounge, in King Street Parade, Twickenham.

Undercover detectives also claimed they saw physical contact between dancers and customers when they visited on September 17 this year.

Neighbours have bombarded Richmond Council with complaints and police will apply to the authority to revoke the club’s licence at a meeting on Monday.

In licensing documents, one resident, of Poulett Gardens, Twickenham, said: “We do not think that having a sex establishment on the door of a residential area or even in the borough is very salubrious.”

Another neighbour, of Cross Deep, Twickenham, added: “The strippers or other workers do park their car in nearby parking areas and on two occasions, having been wakened up by noise, loud radio and shouting, I have witnessed them sniffing a substance.”

A third objector, of Poulett Gardens, wrote: “Advertising leaflets with semi-naked strippers are still found on the pavements around the club. I do not wish to be faced with this every time I walk to the end of my street in the evening.”

Owner Walter Angliss, 58, said the drugs claims were “absolute nonsense”.

He added that his critics were only opposed to the club because of their “moral objections”.

He said: “We are in the 21st century - if you don’t like the business you don’t have to come into the business.”

He claimed the undercover officers had asked dancers to sit on their laps, and he had sacked his manager and the two strippers since the incident.

Mr Angliss said he had offered to submit CCTV footage to police every week to prove his performers did not break the rules.

He added that he was planning to sell the club within three months to a big lap dancing chain such as Secrets or For your Eyes Only.

The Piano Lounge’s licence will be reviewed at a Richmond Council licensing committee meeting on Monday.