UK Sex Shop News

Sheffield's Private Shop has closed on Division Street. The shop is now being converted into a Mangobeans coffee shop.

The shop had a minor claim to fame as it is next door to house where Jarvis Cocker of the Sheffield band Pulp, fell out of a window at party when trying to impress a girl with his Spiderman impression.

Vibes Adult Boutique in Aylesford, Kent has become the second shop to be noted as official vendors of the intelligent sex doll Samantha as created by Synthea Amatus.

The shop will sell the dolls for £3,500.

While Vibez has just one on sale at present, orders can be taken and deliveries can be made within six weeks.

Samantha has an SD card for programme updates and will be able to adapt and be updated as programming evolves.

Some while ago, the European Court of Justice ruled that council fees should be limited to the cost of administration associated with licence. This put at end to massive morality charges but left open the debate about what costs are reasonable to include. Westminster Council has just won a case at the Supreme Court as part of this debate.

The latest case considered repayments to overcharged licence fee payers. The Court ruled that the correct approach to settling the repayment question is one that restores the parties to the position they should have been in.

The Court also stated that enforcement costs could be passed on to licence fee payers, but not before a a licensing application has been successful. ie the full costs cannot be loaded onto an applicant who has been refused a licence.

A number of operators of licensed sex shops in Soho, led by Simply Pleasure owner Timothy Hemming, had challenged Westminster City Council's previous practice of charging a £26,000 management fee over and above a £2,600 administration fee as part of the licensing application process. The fee went towards the costs of management and enforcement of the regime, and was refundable if the application was refused.

The case will now return to the High Court, which will settle a number of questions as to the reasonableness of the fees raised by the licence holders.

See full details in article from out-law.com .

ETO is a trade group for the UK adult trade associated with online and offline sex shops. The winners were decided by the votes of visitors to www.erotictradeonly.com. ...And the winners were:

Best New Female Product: Satisfyer Pro 2 (Satisfyer)

Best New Male Product: Pulse III (Hot Octopuss)

Best New Couples Product: Sync (We-Vibe)

Best New Hi-Tech Product: Sync (We-Vibe)

Most Innovative New Product: Fuzion Xchange (Rocks-Off)

Best New Product Range: Kink (Doc Johnson)

Best Consumable: ID Glide (ID Lubricants)

Best Fetish Products Brand: Fetish Fantasy Series (Pipedream)

Best Pleasure Products Brand: CalExotics

Best Luxury Brand: We-Vibe

Most Innovative Brand: Lovehoney

Best Sexual Health Brand: System Jo

Best Consumable Brand: ID Lubricants

Best Lingerie Brand: Leg Avenue

Best Fetish Products Distributor: Mister B

Best Specialist Products Distributor: Mister B

Best Pleasure Products Distributor: Creative Conceptions

Best International Distributor: Scala Playhouse

Best Lingerie Distributor: Leg Avenue

Best Retail Chain: Nice 'n' Naughty

Best Individual Store: Vibez Adult Boutique (Aylesford)

Best Specialist Retailer: Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium (London)

Best Online Retailer: Lovehoney

Best Erotic Writer: Cara Sutra

Best Store Manager: Sue Judge (Saints & Sinners, Blackpool)

Best Sales Team: Creative Conceptions

The Prowler Group including several sex shops and the Gay Times went into administration in March 2017.

The ABS Holdings, who run the Simply Pleasure chain of sex shops has just purchased the Prowler shops in Soho and Brighton and will keep these shops open.

The Birmingham store has closed though, as has Expectations in Hoxton, London which closed at the end of last year.

The Gay Times has been bought by a management group and will continue to publish.