A SWINGERS club offering "sophisticated entertainment for uninhibited and discerning adult men and women" is set to open up for business just yards from Wirral's main police custody suite.

10th Heaven - promoting itself on the internet and in the Loot advertising publication as "the northwest's newest swingers club" - is in the former Great Float pub in Upper Beckwith Street, Birkenhead, 200 yards from the police cells on Corporation Road. According to its adverts, 10th Heaven offers a sauna, dark room, couples room, viewing room, two hot tubs, three DVD lounges, four private rooms, two mixed play rooms and a BDSM room. BDSM is shorthand for sex games involving bondage, domination and sado-masochism.

Its website says the club will also be featuring "bi days" and "greedy girl days and nights".

But the venture has attracted criticism, with a ward councillor describing it as "a totally inappropriate development".

10th Heaven was due to open its doors on Saturday for an "introduction evening" but when the Globe visited the premises on Tuesday morning, workmen were still carrying out electrical work and decorating.

When it does start operating, the club's website promises that it will be open from 11am each day "until late".

It reads: "Our club is a friendly, sophisticated club for open-minded adults. If this is your first time at our club then you have picked the right place to be.

"Whether you're an experienced clubber or just a bit curious, we offer a comfortable, no pressure nightclub environment for you to meet, eat, drink and be entertained.

"We are all here to have the best of good times and share the uninhibited enjoyment associated with those who discover a new dimension to their lifestyle."

The owners of the club have installed eight-foot high metal fences around the club that they are currently in negotiation with the council over.

It's understood there may also have to be a planning application for a change of use of the premises.

The club does not have a licence to sell alcohol but the website advises customers that they can bring their own drinks that they can then store "behind the bar".

A representative of 10th Heaven insisted to the Globe that the investment and regeneration of the property was an improvement on the derelict shell it was before.

"If there are any complaints about the club then we'll turn it back over to the drug dealers and the prostitutes who used it before," he said.

The club's website also has an FAQ page - frequently asked questions - which offers information about the practising of safe sex, the availability of contraceptives and what kind of clothes to wear.

Ann McLachlan, Labour councillor for Bidston and St James, said she is unhappy about the club operating in the area.

She told the Globe: "This is a totally inappropriate development for the area and the last thing I, as a ward councillor, want to see."

David Green, director of technical services at the council, said: "Wirral Council is currently investigating the erection of fencing around the premises.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further until those investigations have been completed."