UK Sex Shop News

Congratulations to Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium that was voted by Erotic Trade Only as the Most Innovative Retailer.

Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium have stores at

• 57 Hoxton Square, London N1 6HD.
• 253 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, London W11 1LR

Targeting sex toys for women tends make for a very different atmosphere to many shops. The store has a unique restriction of being basically women only, although guys are welcome if accompanied by a woman.

Sh! writes: Interestingly the men who vist Sh! tell us they enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and non in-your-face stock as much the women it was created for"….

A Holyhead sex shop is to be replaced by a takeaway.

The Good Vibrations sex shop on Williams Street suffered from a lack of business as prospective customers were too embarrassed to visit, said owner David McCallum.

McCallum said: People were embarrassed to visit the shop, as everybody knows everybody in Holyhead. Also, people can buy that gear over the internet now, without having to come to the shop.

Things were better to begin with, but I think that was curiosity more than anything. Some people didn't care and would still visit the shop, but I wasn't getting enough customers.

Albert Owen MP, who has long opposed the shop on Williams Street, said he was glad it would become a takeaway.

A Sex shop is planned in the business park location suggested by nutters who helped get a previous location rejected.

Deborah Flack's application to open a sex shop in Border's Lane, Debden, provoked 60 letters of objection to Epping Forest Council and a 250-signature petition before it was rejected in March.

She now wants to open a shop at the Seedbed business park in Langston Road.

Sex shop objector Maria Higgs said: It's definitely a more appropriate area to have it. I would rather not have it at all, anywhere, but Border's Lane was not right. We did say as part of our argument why didn't they put it somewhere like (Langston Road).

Ian King, a pastor at the Restore Community Church said: It's away from schools. I think it's a more appropriate place. I would still maintain that it's not a positive development for the community, even if it's not in the neighbourhood.

Comments on the latest application can be made until June 13.

A British study has found that in the next 10 years, sex toy sales will keep pace with smartphones to the tune of 400 million globally. Right now, nearly 4 million sex toys are said to be sold in the UK every year.

According to the Women, Sex and Shopping report from the Hewson Group, thanks to more mainstream acceptance of sex the pleasure goods industry is poised to explode.

The findings also found that more than 40% of British women view online porn and said that women have a strong desire to buy products designed to enhance their sex lives.

The study as reported in the Daily Mail, was based on a survey of 700 women, plus a second group of customers at five female-owned sex shops.

The report noted that the new data reflects a trend that began in the 70's and that the industry has been held back in the past due to an association with the sleazy, male-dominated porn industry. But a "revolution" has occurred, driven by women who are more powerful at home and in the workplace with higher incomes who could spend more than $300 a year on these items.

The report stated that more than 60% of women find the idea of buying a sex toy to be exciting. Women are motivated by far more basic instincts than are commonly ascribed to them. The erotic, the naughty, the forbidden and even perhaps the slightly sordid all have their appeal.

The study pointed to the success of upscale lingerie chains like Agent Provocateur and smaller outlets such as Coco-de-Mer and Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium as examples.

As reported earlier, the Christian Institute (CI) and city councillor Armorel Carlyon have been told their application regarding the Truro sex shop Mrs Palm will now go to judicial review. Judges will decide whether Cornwall Council acted unlawfully in granting the shop a licence.

Nutters at the time contended that being next to school uniform shop Trevails was somehow enough to get a licence refused. They lodged about 100 objections with the council, but most were disregarded on grounds of morality being irrelevant to licensing decisions.

Simon Calvert, of the CI, said: This confirms there is a case to answer here. Part of it is that its location is next to a school uniform shop and that the content of some objections, which was relevant to the case, was treated as irrelevant. If we win it will have implications for other sex shops around the country, allowing them to be challenged for being in inappropriate places.

Cornwall Council has said it will not contest the case, a move which could later leave it open to legal action by the sex shop's owners, who began trading in November after obtaining a ten-year lease on the property.

Braxton Reynolds, joint owner of the shop, said the case was unlikely to go before the courts until October at the earliest, by which time the shop's licence would already have been subject to its first annual review.

Reynolds said he did not envisage any circumstances under which the renewal would be refused. All a judicial review can tell the granting authority to do is go back and re-determine the original licence, and that will probably be taking place after the first annual renewal, he said: I addressed all the issues of objection in my own submission. The only arguments that were dismissed were essentially on moral grounds, and they were not legally admissible.

George Osborne said in this year's budget speech that Council planning shouldn't get in the way of small business. He said: 

We will expect all bodies involved in planning to prioritise growth and jobs; We will introduce a new presumption in favour of sustainable development, so that the default answer to development is yes;

Perhaps someone in Surrey actually listened to him

See article from surreycomet.co.uk

Elmbridge Council says it will abolish its zero tolerance towards sex shops.

A spokesperson for the council would not confirm any details of its new policy for handing out sex establishment licenses until a Licensing Committee meeting in June has been held.

But two councillors on the committee told the Elmbridge Guardian the authority would be changing its stance towards sex shops, perhaps as soon as this summer.

Councillor Rowan Cole was one councillor who believed the previous policy was outdated. He said: The zero tolerance was old fashioned and we are now catching up with the 21st century, but lifting the zero tolerance doesn't mean we're going to get brothels on Walton High Street. This is a welcome step forward and residents shouldn't be worried. Any sex establishment application would be sounded by councillors who would determine what's right and proper.

He added, in the current economic climate, the council should be encouraging all small businesses to set-up shop in Elmbridge - even if they distributed pornography.

Mrs Palm, A sex shop that opened up next door to a school uniform store in Truro, Cornwall, will face a courtroom trial after Christian nutters won permission to challenge the licensing decision.

The High Court have now given permission for a judicial review of Cornwall Council's decision to grant a licence. Judicial reviews allow a court to decide whether a public body has acted according to law.

The legal action against the Council has been taken by Truro resident and Christian nutter, Armorel Carlyon, and The Christian Institute. They claim that Cornwall Council disregarded relevant material relating to the suitability of the location.

They also claim that the Council failed to give adequate reasons for concluding that the location was suitable for a sex shop even though it was next door to a school uniform store. [Usually the nutters are happy that councils provides trivial justifications masking their morality decisions].

Cornwall Council is not contesting the case, but the sex shop owner is. A date has not yet been set for a hearing.

A former Richmond councillor is calling for a referendum on whether there should be sex shops in the borough.

Barrister Phillip Taylor said:

There is a need for local people to be more involved with the decision-making process. I am asking it be referred to full council for a referendum to be held. There should be some view, established by the community, about what they want on what is considered by many people as an important issue.

Taylor suggested the idea of a referendum following the application for licence renewal for the Private Shop, in Kew Road. At the licensing sub-committee meeting, Taylor claimed the initial granting of a licence six years ago had been flawed and had been approved in spite of public objection. He asked that a renewal not be granted.

However, Councillor Brian Miller, chairman of the sub-committee, said:

We found this a very difficult decision to reach and had to discuss it long and hard. If this had been a new application the committee wouldn't have granted it outright. However, as it is being treated without objection, or complaints reported to the authorities and no complaints from the general public other than the interested parties [here tonight] we feel, given the circumstances, the only course open to us is we shall have to continue to grant the licence with the existing conditions.

Since 2004 the council's regulatory committee policy is the appropriate number of sex establishments within each ward is nil but it can not be used retrospectively to close existing shops.

Once the new localism bill is passed later this year, residents could force a referendum by submitting a petition signed by 5% of local electors on a relevant council issue.

A letter from the EU Commission to the man responsible for leading the campaign to stop a Channel Islands VAT exemption has revealed that further, more far-reaching changes than those already implemented by means of the Budgetary Act can be expected by the UK authorities.

Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) was introduced in 1983 and enabled goods below the value of £18 to be imported VAT-free from all destinations outside of the EU with the aim of reducing administrative costs disproportionate to collecting small amounts of VAT.

Online mail order company Play.com was first to spot the new opportunity and set up in Jersey in 1998, where they took further advantage of Royal Mail's subsidised postage. Tesco, Asda and HMV are amongst others who followed suit.

A source close to the EU said: The LVCR reduction from £18 to £15 in the Budget earlier this year was just a preliminary move. The government is now considering its legal options and how it can go about producing a list that will exclude certain goods from LVCR.

The unlicensed sex shop chain, Ann Summers, has abandoned its Squeal Deal campaign, which parodied Marks & Spencer Meal Deal ads, the day before the campaign was due to launch.

Marks & Spencer had threatened Ann Summers with legal action over the ads, which were due to have launched on 21st April. An M&S spokesman said: When we believe these values are being infringed, we do whatever we can to protect our brand and our customers. We therefore are taking legal advice with a view to issuing legal proceedings.

The deal was to have offered three items for £29, a lingerie main, sex toy side, and flavoured lubrication dessert. Mimicking the supermarket's food porn ads, the Ann Summers ads reverse the M&S lettering, to display S&M, and feature an image of a bottom covered in melted chocolate, instead of M&S's usual strawberry.

The Private Shop in Worcester wants to rebrand itself but councillors have deferred a decision on its new look because they could not read what the signs said.

Darker Enterprises wants to give the shop in Lowesmoor a lift and bring its fascia in line with the company's corporate identity.

While councillors on Worcester City Council's licensing committee did not have any problem with the sign proposed for above the front door, they were concerned about what was written on the windows. Councillors have asked for further details about what the company wants to advertise on its windows to make sure the wording is appropriate.