Sex Shop Window Displays

Shoppers could be greeted with displays of saucy underwear under a Wednesbury sex shop’s new plans.

Nice ’n’ Naughty currently has blacked out windows but boss Richard Allmark wants to decorate it with lingerie instead. The retail manager has applied to Sandwell Council for the changes to the Lower High Street shop which he hopes will draw in more customers.

He also wants to banish the image of the stereotypical sex shop of yesteryear. But the application, which has been submitted to the council’s licensing committee, has drawn inevitable nutter criticism.

Town councillor Elaine Costigan said the town was not the right place for such a sexy display and said she would be objecting to the proposal: What will all the older people say? This isn’t right at all, I’ll certainly be sending a letter of objection

People don’t want to walk through the High Street and see women’s underwear on display. Wednesbury is an old town, it’s a nice place to live and I genuinely think people would be annoyed if it got the go-ahead.

In a letter to the planning committee, Mr Allmark said: The windows are all very tasteful, have nothing displayed that is offensive and would make the store far more appealing. He added that the rest of the shop would be blocked off so passers-by would not be able to see inside.

The application will be heard at the meeting of the Licensing Committee on Tuesday 17th June.

Nice 'n' Naughty were  successful in their bid for an open window display for their Wednesbury sex shop.

They applied over three months ago to Sandwell Council. They were invited to attend a special committee meeting after objections were received from local councillors for the Wednesbury area.

Nice 'n' Naughty has made headline news in the local paper: ‘ANGER OVER SEX SHOP WINDOW DISPLAY PLAN’, with comments from Councillor Elaine Costigan saying that Wednesbury was not the place for such a sexy display’ and ‘people don’t want to walk through the High Street and see women’s underwear on display.

The newspaper article resulted in the local radio station, interviewing people in the street outside the shop asking for their opinions on the morning of the hearing.

Richard Allmark and Trish Murray attended the meeting and presented their case to a 10 strong committee to convince them that there weren't going to be dancing dildos in the window. After a 40 minute hearing they were finally granted permission to have a display.

An hour after receiving the permission, Richard and store manager Lee Hickman organised a window display with a banner display stand and lingerie.

Looks good.

In 2010 Braxton Reynolds opened Truro's first sex shop, Mrs Palm, on Little Castle Street. He has now been ordered to black out his window display or risk losing his licence.

Confusion ensued over the wording of the licence re window displays, but now Cornwall Council's licensing 'service' said it has clarified the position. According to the council, the window display with mannequins in lingerie is breaching standard conditions of the licence. The council is claiming that the window display is part of the interior and therefore must not be visible to passers by.

Reynolds said a blacked-out window would not only damage the look of the street but also harm his business. He said:

Rules are being enforced in such a way to the detriment of the street first and to the detriment of our trading viability.

This will be disastrous for trade and will affect the look of the street. Our lingerie is no worse than stock high street chains have on display in their windows.

Adam Hayes of Miller Commercial who manages many of the nearby buildings said:

If asked our view of what the effect would be on Little Castle Street to have a prominent and central shop essentially whitewashed or blacked out, I would say it would be detrimental to the street in terms of aesthetics and to adjoining businesses.

A spokesman for the Council said:

[Reynolds was] advised that Licensing Enforcement would arrange to meet him at the premises to conduct a licence check which would also enable the opportunity for discussion on the way forward and options available.

This is not as a result of any complaints from members of the public.