UK Sex Shop News

Fees for sex shop licences are dropping by £1,825. Kirklees Council has decreased the charge to £750 following a court ruling in London.

There are only three sex shop licences issued in Kirklees and they will benefit from a cut, the £2,575 licences falls to £750.

The three shops, all in Huddersfield, are: John's Books, Manchester Road; Empire, off John William Street; and Private Shop, Bradford Road.

Kirklees says:

The proposed fees reflect this reduction in costs and will enable the council to reasonably recover its costs in relation to sex shop licensing.

Clonezone is a long running gay sex shop witch branches in several major cities.

The Soho branch in London has now moved from 64 to 35 Old Compton Street.

A company spokesperson said:

Due to rising demand we thought it necessary to invest in larger premises so that we could stock more of the brands our customers love, such as ES Collection, Timoteo and our in-house brand Titus: Made for Men -- a range of aromas, cock rings and leatherwear.

Clonezone

35 Old Compton Street
Soho
London
W1D 5JX

Mon-Sat: 11am - 9pm
Sun 12: noon - 8pm

Central Bedfordshire Council has opened a public consultation, on what is reported by the press as a nil policy. However this is a policy proposal that would be applied to future licence issuing and does not affect existing businesses. So thankfully Adult Pit Stop's future is not in any doubt.

The name on the licence was recently changed, but the same team is still running the shop.

The opening hours on Sundays are now 10.00am to 6.00pm.

The shop continues to be a very popular shop with the customer base built up over the last eight years.

Adult Pit Stop

43 Tempsford Road A1 Northbound
Sandy
Bedfordshire
SG19 2AF

Mon-Sat: 10am-8pm
Sun: 10am-6pm

Westminster Council trading standards staff have raided lock-ups in Merton and Wandsworth and seized 100,000 hardcore DVDs.

The DVDs were due to be supplied to sex shops in Soho and the West End, and to newsagents in South London. Previous raids on 80 newsagents had led to follow up raids on the suppliers.

It appears that the seized DVDs were not pirated copies, but rather unboxed disks from legitimate producers from Europe and the United States and sold from behind the counters of the newsstands and unlicensed sex shops.

Nickie Aiken of Westminster City Council said:

We believe we have uncovered a major wholesale supply ring distributing unclassified material to shops in Westminster. The operation illustrates the scale of the illegal sex industry in London. My fear is that corner shops in Westminster and elsewhere in the capital are now the new frontier for the illegal porn industry in London.

Bradford Council plans to cut the amount it will charge for the licensing of sex shops and zoos, following a Court of Appeal ruling.

The cost of a licence for a sex shop, sex cinema or strip club is likely to be reduced from £5,658 to £1,928.

The Court of Appeal ruled in a case involving Westminster City Council that licence fees for sex shops must be reasonable and proportionate, and could not include the costs of enforcing or monitoring unlicensed businesses.

The plans will now be considered by the Regulatory and Appeals Committee.

In a bizarre example of political correctness being taken to extremes, an Oxford sex shop renewal is being caught up in the conviction of a gang of child abusers in the so called Bullfinch Trial.

It is politically incorrect to mention the important correlation that, in common with, several other cases, the perpetrators were primarily muslims of Pakistani origin. Society has taken the view that such correlations should be played down so as not suggest that millions of other perfectly law abiding citizens from the same cultural background are unfairly associated with the criminality.

All very civilised, but somehow the same politeness is not accorded accorded to people who trade in, or simply enjoy adult entertainment. Then newspapers, politicians, or anyone else with a pet morality to peddle, is encouraged to make up bollox about sexual entertainment turning men into rapists or whatever. It matters not a jot that they defaming millions of totally innocent people, it matters not a jot that scientists and researchers have found next to nothing to support any such causality, and it matters not a jot that there are millions of porn viewers who are perfectly law abiding citizens.

Now in Oxford, reprehensible politicians are highlighting the Bullfinch case as reasons for opposing the sex shop licence renewal for the Private Shop in Cowley Road. The locality became linked to the case when trial barrister Lee Karu mentioned that one of the rapists was brought up on the Cowley Road.

Green councillor Dick Wolff said residents had contacted him objecting to the licence renewal saying:

The residents are objecting and I am representing those views. (Those views) are based on Bullfinch.

Green councillor Greg Simmons said:

The Bullfinch inquiry highlighted that the environs of the Cowley Road are a contributing factor and although it's not to do with the sex shop itself, it is contributing to the gritty sub-culture of the Cowley Road and so that is what convinced me (to object).

Green councillor Elise Benjamin said:

My feeling is that with Bullfinch there has been more concern, especially with Mr Karu's comment about Cowley Road.

Its not as if the church hasn't got deep troubles with child abuse. But it doesn't seem very grateful for the political correctness that generally cushions religion against criticism and unfair generalisations about clerical child abuse. And it seems that the church is quick to make equally unfair aspersions about other people.

Bruce Gillingham, rector of St Clement's Church said:

We're bound to look at things differently in the light of the Bullfinch trial, it's certainly caused concern. We want to see the spirit and the ethos of Cowley road raised so that all people feel welcome.

The local MP has wisely opted not to get too involved in the debate and has taken up his position on the fence. Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said that he supported the Cowley residents who wanted to avoid giving the area a seedy image , but that the shop and its customers also have rights .

The police have not objected to the licence renewal, and the application will be considered by Oxford City Council on 20th August.

Update: Resident's association that doesn't consult the residents

20th August 2013. See  article from  oxfordmail.co.uk

A former councillor has made a few relevant comments about objections to the sex shop licence.

Patrick Gray, who served as a city councillor for the east and central ward between 1979 and 1990, said it was wrong for objectors to use the Bullfinch child abuse case to oppose the renewal of The Private Shop's licence in Cowley Road.

Ten formal objections were made to the council against the renewal application submitted in June, including from Green councillors Craig Simmons and Dick Wolff, with many referencing comments made by lawyers in Bullfinch about a sub-culture on Cowley Road.

Grey pointed out:

There is no connection to Bullfinch and the shop is behind closed doors. No evidence has been produced to support the assertion that it was responsible for the terrible crimes revealed by the Bullfinch enquiry.

People have a choice whether they go to the shop or not and we do not want to live in a vigilante society.

Gray added that he was upset to find that the Divinity Road Area Residents' Association (DRARA) had submitted a formal objection without consulting residents. He is one of the founder members of the residents' association. He said:

Most people who we know in this area take issues of freedom of expression very seriously and would be deeply concerned by what would amount to censorship. The residents' association ought to consult people.

DRARA chairwoman Elizabeth Mills notable didn't refute the charges and just said:

I am sorry if anyone thinks we have stepped outside our brief and anyone can step forward to sit on the committee.

Update: Licence Renewed

21st August 2013. See  article from  oxfordmail.co.uk

The shop licence has been renewed at a Licensing and Registration Sub Committee meeting at Oxford City Council. Ten written representations were noted.

Update: An insult to everybody who lives in the area

23rd August  2013. See  article from  oxfordmail.co.uk

Those behind a sex shop licence application have said linking it to the Bullfinch child abuse case was an insult to everybody who lives in the area .

Darker Enterprises said the sex shop had no link to the case whatsoever . Management consultant Clive Sullivan, speaking on behalf of the owners, told the committee:

I have gone through the (Bullfinch) supplement in the Oxford Mail in detail and there is not one reference to a sex shop.

There is a reference of drugs and alcohol being used in respect of grooming unfortunately of girls.

I don't hear people asking for every premises in Cowley Road selling alcohol to be closed down.

[And lets not even go with the more obvious, but unmentionable, suggestion of asking for all mosques to be closed down].

In the event Oxford Council committee chairwoman Mary Clarkson said in its 32-year history the shop had caused no problems:

We have heard all the concerns that have been raised but we don't believe there has been a significant change since the last renewal to not justify renewal.

The owner of French firm Divinextases has seen sales triple after offering erotic products that appeal to the eco-conscious.

Frederic Donnat saw a gap in the market that was more interesting than the usual organic beauty products . He refocused his online business to eco-erotic products.

From balms for buttocks left sore by a spanking session to intimate perfumes, all Donnat's products are made in France with sustainable materials from reputable sources. They use beeswax and shea butter rather than palm oil and all are wrapped in recyclable packaging.

Divinextases , whose pills are sold in pharmacies, organic stores and sex shops, now wants to diversify into aphrodisiac-laced tea and sugar, company director Fleur Phelipeau told AFP.

Meanwhile British company French Letter sells carbon-neutral condoms made from natural latex produced in sustainably-run forests. A French website arbredesplaisirs.com (Forest of pleasure) promises to plant a tree in the Amazon rainforest for every sex toy purchased.

But some are cynical about the rise of the organic sex shop. Easy Love, a network of lingerie and erotic accessory retailers, claimed eco-erotic products have sold very badly and dismissed the concept as a publicity stunt .