Sex Shops in Worthing

A sex shop boss is making her third bid to sell hardcore films. But Kathleen Sutton, proprietor of Secret Desires, Rowlands Road, Worthing, faces a barrage of nutters.

Borough councillors have received protest petitions containing almost 2,000 names, but more than a quarter of those who signed were not from the town and 137 failed to put down their addresses.

Ms Sutton, who wants a sex shop licence, submitted a counter petition of 528 names, but 187 were not local and 209 did not leave their addresses.

Without a licence, children are allowed into the shop, and can also see inside from the street.

Police raised no objections to a licence being granted.

One nutter wrote: Some might easily decide to shop elsewhere if West Worthing becomes known as a 'sleazy area.

Meanwhile another warned: I am convinced that a shop licensed to sell hardcore sex films would be a blight on the town.

But a supporter of the application said: I do not object in principle to the presence of this shop in Rowlands Road, but as I have three school-aged children I find some of the posters and items displayed in the window to be unsuitable for public display. I understand that granting a licence would enable the council to exert greater control, and would therefore prefer the shop to become licensed.

A report to councillors on February 6 said there had been no complaints about the conduct of the business. It added: The effect of being unlicensed means the business is unable to sell R18-rated video or DVD films and only a limited proportion of sex articles. However, being unlicensed has also meant the business can allow entry to patrons of any age and this authority has no control of what is displayed in the windows.

A Worthing sex shop's third bid to sell hard-core pornography has again been rejected by Worthing Council.
Secret Desires, in Rowlands Road, wanted to sell videos with the specialist R18 certificate and a wider selection of sex toys, submitting its application in October last year despite two previous failed attempts.

The licensing and control committee heard almost two hours of representations from opponents to the bid, and a spokeswoman for the applicant, before retiring for almost an hour to discuss their decision.

Around 75 people packed into the committee room at the town hall to witness the meeting, with some joining in group prayer as they waited outside the council chamber for councillors to announce the result.

A council solicitor told the hushed audience the bid was rejected on the grounds it would be inappropriate in the high density residential area in which it was situated. She added it was on a main thoroughfare into the town centre often used by children.

A scathing attack on Worthing Council's past refusals to allow a licensed sex establishment in Rowlands Road has been made by Kathleen Sutton, of the existing Secret Desires shop.

She told the Herald this week: Worthing Council must not sit there and be biased, and she urged councillors to get rid of their prejudices against something which does no harm to anybody.

Ms Sutton, director of parent company Shop Tonight, was speaking in support of her latest (and fourth) annual bid for the licence, which would allow the shop at 101 Rowlands Road to sell R18-rated porn films.

But nutters of Worthing Churches Together is again set to oppose the application, which is due to be considered by Worthing licensing councillors next March.

Ms Sutton said the councillors were not elected to cast judgement on what was already legal. There shouldn't be a debate on 'we don't like porn, or we don't like sex. It's not up to councillors to say 'we don't want it'. Wake up, Worthing, we have a strip club now.

She added that things which nutter Steve Stevens had warned against when Secret Desires had first opened, had not come about: There has not been a decrease in property price (due to the shop's location), and there has been no increase in crime.

Worthing Tabernacle nutter pastor the Rev Mark Weedon told the Herald yesterday: Demand for a product or service does not legitimise its supply. Many have observed over recent decades the link between an increasingly permissive society and the consequent breakdown in marriages, an increase in unwanted pregnancies, rape, and so on. We are asking the council to continue to refuse Secret Desires' application for an R18 licence.

Steve Stevens and his wife are too ill to organise a petition this year, but he hopes that letters alone will do it.

Veteran nutter Steve Stevens is claiming victory after a Worthing sex shop closed.

But he faces a new fight because adult goods chain Pillow Talk plans to take over the vacant shop next week.

Secret Desires in Rowlands Road, Worthing, was cleared of stock just weeks before councillors were due to hear a fourth try for a sex shop licence.

Stevens said of the new shop: I will campaign against it of course. I think they would be very ill-advised to try to do anything in this town.

Tony Gonzalez, of Pillow Talk, said: Hopefully we should be up and running by the middle of next week.

The new owners of a Worthing sex shop will continue a four-year fight to sell hard core pornography.

Pillow Talk is expected to open in early February in Rowlands Road – in the former Secret Desires shop – and the owners have confirmed they will apply to Worthing Council to become a licensed sex shop.

The shop's former owners, Shoptonight, failed in three bids to become licensed, which would allow the sale of hard core pornography but also impose stringent restrictions on access to the shop.

Tony Gonzalez, general manager of Pillow Talk's 16 shops across Sussex, Surrey and Kent, said his company had bought the Worthing and Bognor shops from Shoptonight and would be more female-friendly.

He acknowledged the role of self-styled morality campaigner Steve Stevens in campaigns against the previous shop but said Pillow Talk would not be a traditional back-street sex shop. We are more like Ann Summers with a range of adult DVDs as we are the type of shop aimed towards couples and more female-friendly, rather than a traditional adult shop. This shop, to begin with, is going to be carrying mostly lingerie and toys as it's an unlicensed shop.

Gonzalez said the shop window would feature displays of lingerie until the licence was granted, something he was confident would happen.

Alan Butler, managing director of Pillow Talk, said he hoped to submit the licence application to the council within the next two weeks.