UK Sex Shop News

Pulse and Cocktails have submitted plans for a new branch of the sex shop chain at an old roadside restaurant, Little Chef. It is located on the the East Lancs Rd at Windle, St Helens.

Not sure if I am being a prude, but is this the sort of business we should be encouraging in a domestic, suburban family area of St Helens?

Or should we be happy that jobs are being created in St Helens, and it shows how easygoing St Helens is becoming?

Update: The inevitable whingeing

14th April 2016. See article from sthelensstar.co.uk

Former Windle Conservative councillor Wally Ashcroft, who is standing in the ward for next month's local elections, expressed strong opposition to the plans:

It's an absolute disgrace, it's not what you want on the main road where cars are passing, he said.

It would give a poor image of St Helens. I'm totally opposed to it and I would urge anyone else if they're opposed to it to write to the town hall to make their feelings known.

It is not the right image for this town, I have strong feelings about this.

The UK Government has decided to reverse its homophobic ban on poppers.

Ministers had previously announced the alkyl nitrites would be outlawed next month under their far-reaching Psychoactive Substances Act.

Now after robust criticism from Tory Crispin Blunt and Labour Andy Burnham the Home Office have announced that poppers will be excluded from the ban. In a silly attempt at saving face the said that it was advised that poppers do not directly stimulate or depress the central nervous system . which means they are not technically a psychoactive drug.

Crime Creation Minister Karen Bradley accepted the advice and passed it on to police to ensure people are not criminalised.

Before the government U-turn sex shops were due to face up to seven years' jail for selling them when the Psychoactive Substances Act takes force next month.

Crispin Blunt had told the Commons :

There are some times when something is proposed which becomes personal to you and you realise the government is about to do something fantastically stupid.

Theresa May has been criticised over the Act, which also bans laughing gas (right). And I think in those circumstances one has a duty to speak up.

I use poppers, I out myself as a popper user, and would be directly affected by this legislation. I'm astonished then to find that it's proposing to be banned and frankly so would many other gay men. And if I follow my own mindset reaction to this it simply serves to bring the whole law into disrepute.

In a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, Andy Burnham said poppers have beneficial health and relationship effects and were an important issue for the gay community.

Blackpool sex shop Saints & Sinners has been granted a licence to serve alcohol on its premises.

The store already has a lounge area which serves coffee, where customers can wait while their partners try on items of lingerie, and this will now also offer wine, champagne, Prosecco, and chilled beers. It is believed to be the first adult store to be granted an alcohol licence.  Saints & Sinners manager Sue Judge said:

We often have couples who wish to go for a drink to discuss which items they are going to buy, and now they can do so without leaving the store.

The UK's poppers manufacturers should be allowed to operate while the government reviews the product's legality, the former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has said:

Poppers have been around for decades,The evidence shows they don't pose any great risk to health, and that's why they have never been banned before.

Frankly they could have been made exempt from the new act without the need for a review, but the government didn't want to admit they had got it wrong. While there is a review ongoing, of course the legitimate businesses that produce poppers should be allowed to continue to operate.

The government's psychoactive substances bill will come into force on 6 April, making poppers illegal in the UK. In response to calls to exempt the product from the bill in January, the government announced a review of the ban, which is expected to report before the summer recess in July, leaving a window of around three months in which UK poppers manufacturers risk going bust.

Poppers is the name given to the chemicals alkyl nitrites, which, when sniffed, give the user a short, sharp head rush. The substance was first circulated as an angina medicine before emerging as a party drug on the gay scene in the 1970s.

Poppers are particularly, though not exclusively, used by gay and bisexual men to enhance sexual pleasure, as they relax the muscles and make it easier to have anal sex. They are sold for about £5 a bottle in most sex shops and some cornershops and are available for anybody over the age of 16 to buy.

Offsite Article: The poppers ban...Will it criminalise gay users?

 

8th March  2016. See  article from theguardian.com
 

Offsite Article: The poppers ban is a veiled attack on pleasure

23rd March 2016. See  article from theguardian.com by David Nutt

About 17 years after it opened for business on Dublin's O'Connell Street, Ann Summers is to open a new shop on the much-busier Henry Street.

It will open at the former Pamela Scott store at No 3 Henry Street, which has been vacant for several weeks.

In spite of the slippage in business on O'Connell Street in recent years, Ann Summers dodged the worst of the retail downturn with customers choosing to spend more on their sex life amid the economic gloom. The Dublin shop is among the three best performing of the company's 140 outlets.

A spokesperson for Ann Summers confirmed that the O'Connell Street store would continue to trade after the second store opens for business, probably before the end of March.

New Cross' famed sex cinema opened its doors for business again. Club 487, in New Cross Road, was reportedly a hotbed of orgies and group romps, with x-rated movies screened to customers.

Last October, the council ordered the porn palace shut its doors for good following a licencing review. They revoked the licence after finding the premises were indeed being used as a sex cinema, or sex establishment, and naughty videos were being shown.

But now owner Peter Jones is appealing the decision, allowing the venue to remain open until a hearing in front of a magistrate at a hearing set for July.

The club now has its own website up and running, where it's described as:

Focused on providing the best films and meeting accommodation with the highest levels of customer satisfaction & we will do everything we can to meet your expectations.

Northampton Council's Labour Group leader, Danielle Stone has called for the banishment of 3 adult businesses. Stone moralised that the lap dancing club and two sex shops on the town's Wellingborough Road. She spouted at a council meeting during the review of the council's licensing policy.

There is just one issue that I am concerned about. This review of policy gave us the opportunity to do something about the location of sex entertainment outlets. It is my view that these venues should not be located in residential areas or on high streets or local shopping areas.

We are witnessing a big spike in reported domestic violence. This is taking place in the social context of the increasing commodification and exploitation of women, an increase in human trafficking and domestic slavery and the sexual exploitation of children.

It is completely wrong, in my view, to normalise the commercial use of women's bodies and to promote the view that people are commodities to be bought and sold like any other commodity.

There are three sex entertainment outlets near where I live. All of them are on the Wellingborough Road, where families do their local shopping, that children pass on the way to and from school, that are there as a daily insult to families who want to live in a kind and caring community.

I and everyone I have spoken, to would much prefer these venues to be relocated away from our neighbourhood, away from where we live and where we shop.

Many Local Authorities s have put restrictions on the location of these venues. We have missed an opportunity to do the same.

However the licensing policy was note changed and still states that lap dancing, strip tease and other forms of adult entertainment may still be provided and authorised by the Licensing Act 2003 .

The sex shops on Wellingborough Road are Simply Pleasure and Adult Shop. The lap dancing club is Urban Tiger.

The AVN Novelty Expos celebrates excellence in sex toys and pleasure products in the 'O' Awards.

For the first time, a new special award was also presented at the "O" Awards: The Chaturbate Female Empowerment Award which was bestowed upon Candida Royalle, who first made a name in the adult industry as a performer, then as one of the first female directors and then as a creator of pleasure produvts when she joined on with Natural Contours.

The winners of the7th annual "O" Awards were:

• "O" Award for Lifetime Achievement: Dave Lampert of Sybian
• Outstanding Lingerie Collection: Coco Licious Lingerie, Rene Rofe
• Outstanding Accessory Product or Line: Selfie Stick, Pipedream Products
• Outstanding Marketing Campaign: CalExotics Rebranding, CalExotics
• Outstanding Packaging: Tom of Finland, XR Brands
• Outstanding Lubricant Product or Line: Electra Lubricant, Fleshlight
• Outstanding Body or Skin Care Line: CandiLand Sensuals, Doc Johnson
• Outstanding Supplement or Enhancement: Astroglide TTC, Astroglide
• Outstanding Non-Powered Product: XPander, Joydivision
• Outstanding Powered Product: Twerking Butt, Topco Sales
• Outstanding Innovation: Lily 2 Scented, LELO
• Outstanding Product For Men: Spotty, Nomi Tang
• Outstanding Product For Women: Womanizer, epi24