Sex Shops in Wales

Plans to turn the birthplace of the longest surviving member of the Charge of the Light Brigade into a sex shop have been approved.

Edwin Hughes, otherwise known as 'Balaclava Ned', was born in Wrexham and died in Blackpool in 1927 aged 96.

I think it's a pity that the premises where his plaque stands could become a sex shop
Colonel Peter Knox, Crimean War Research Society

It is thought he was born at number 2 Mount Street, where a plaque was unveiled in his honour nearly 20 years ago.

Shropshire-based company, The Fantasy House, now plans to run a sex shop from the premises, a few doors down from an existing adult shop.

The Environmental Licensing Committee granted permission on the condition none of the licensed material is positioned near the front of the shop. The committee was told there had been no objections to the application.

However earlier, Colonel Peter Knox, chairman of the Crimean War Research Society, said: I think old Ned would be spinning in his grave.

A company wants to open a sex shop in a Wrexham town centre property famous for being the birthplace of the oldest surviving member of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Edwin Hughes - who became known as Balaclava Ned after riding with the 13th Light Dragoons in the suicidal charge during the Crimean War - was born at number 2 Mount Street in 1830.

In 1992 local businessman Bob Gray paid for a commemorative plaque to be fixed to the side of the building, which is now unoccupied.

The National Chairman of the Crimean War Research Society Col Peter Knox who lives in the Mold area said: I'm horrified, but what can one do, all our members will be horrified too. We will certainly be lodging a complaint with the planning authority in Wrexham. The idea of opening a sex shop in such a significant birthplace is a slur on the memory of the man and the campaign. Balaclava Ned would be spinning in his grave, It's totally unacceptable.

Fantasy House is applying to Wrexham Council for a licence to turn the premises into a shop selling adult clothing. The application is due to come before the environmental licensing committee on July 27.

When the scheme was considered by the town centre's Offa Community Council recently, councillors raised objections to the possibility of a second adult shop being sited so close to an Private Shop just further along Yorke Street. Some nutters thought such premises should not be sited so close to the Wrexham Parish Church.

Nutters in Holyhead are fuming after councillors gave the go-ahead for a sex shop.

At a licensing meeting, seven councillors voted in favour of the adults only outlet.

The proprietor David McCullum applied to the council in 2007 to open the shop near the town centre in William Street.

Nutter traders next to the proposed site had organised a petition against it but councillor Richard L Owen from Beaumaris said there were no grounds
to refuse a licence for the shop: It was just a straight forward licensing committee and If we had refused it it would have gone before a magistrate. There's no grounds to refuse it, the only thing that we were able to do is give him the amount of hours that he can open. We have to try and be fair with people. It was quite unanimous and all the councillors were very specific that there was no legality issues and we could not refuse it.

McCullum is believed to be modelling the shop which will be allowed to open between 5pm and 10pm in the more up-market tradition used by the Ann Summers chain.

The council also imposed a bi-lingual signs clause, which could translate his Good Vibrations shop name to Dirgryniadau Da.

Hugh Gray Morris opposite the new shop and raised a petition against the new establishment: I think they are allowed to open from 5pm but all our receptionists who have children feel uncomfortable and are worried about the undesirables . To be fair he has built the front of the shop quite well but it's what goes inside that concerns us.

Passions are running high over a sex shop application in the centre of an Anglesey town.

Ex-launderette owner David McCullum wants to move from cleaning clothes to selling adult goods with a sex shop in Holyhead.

But traders next to the proposed site on Williams Street are hot under the collar over the plans and have organised a petition against the adult store.

McCullum applied to Anglesey County Council for permission more than 18 months ago and now councillors want to set up a special committee to consider the license for the Sex Establishment in January.

Nutter MP Albert Owen, who has his constituency office on the same street as the proposed site, said: This is the wrong type of development for a popular street like this which has had a lot of investment by traders in the past few years. This shop would negate all the good work that has been done on this street.This is not something that is wanted in this town.

Hairdresser Linda Rowlands, whose shop Clippers is two doors down from the site, said: We are totally opposed to this, it is disgusting. We have kids and families coming to our shop every day and we don't want this type of shop just two doors away. We just don't want it here, it is not good for Holyhead.

McCullum said the shop window would be made appropriate for the street: The shop will be on the lines of an Ann Summers store and not a seedy place. I believe we have the support of the silent majority in the town and that we will prove popular.

The Anglesey council planning committee will now consider this proposal in the next meeting on January 7.