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| NEWS | BY RICHARD OSLEY |
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But Camden Council is hitting back with a new hard-line policy to halt the growth of sex shop networks. In a cat-and-mouse game with council officials and police, managers of unlicensed sex shops, many working in conjunction with traders in Islington and Westminster, replace seized goods in a turn-around time which has forced enforcement officers to change their tactics. “They can just go back and run off other copies and the shelves are full again,” one Town Hall source admitted on Monday. Despite committing flagrant breaches of the rules, many shops have later pleaded with the council to license them, arguing that otherwise their unregulated activities will continue. Camden has reacted by insisting it will license only one shop in any one area. The aim is to stop clusters of sex shops emerging, which residents claim has been the case in Somers Town and Bloomsbury. In theory, the new system makes it impossible for a new business of this type to open in large areas of Camden. For example, the door will be closed on any new shop hoping to open in Somers Town, traders have been warned. For the past six months, however, the council has been forced to deal with a series of applications which were submitted before the new capping system was introduced or where applicants have threatened High Court legal action after an initial rejection. Because the new policy could not be used as a reason to reject these applications, Camden Town will soon have more than one sex shop. Councillors approved a licence for Deja Blue, due to open in Kentish Town Road opposite Camden Town Tube station, after being told that the area’s other sex shop – Prowler in Camden High Street – catered for gay customers only. The licences are highly sought after because they help shops attract extra business by allowing them to fill their shelves with money-making explicit R18 videos and DVDs. The licence also allows them to use official advertising. Richard Barca, the lawyer who represents most prospective sex shop managers at Town Hall meetings, said at a licensing hearing last month that there had been a “sea change” in people’s opinions of sex shops. He maintained that the fears they create extra crime and prostitution were unfounded. But no application has proved successful since Deja Blue was granted permission to trade after an appeal. Amidst the confusion over which shops have been licensed and which remain unlicensed, residents living near Eversholt Street, Somers Town, have warned the area is being transformed into a mini-Soho. The street itself has been nicknamed the Red Light Strip, although it is not suggested any of the premises are being used for prostitution. Each application from a sex shop has met a chorus of disapproval from residents. One resident, who did not wish to be named but who lives yards from an unlicensed sex shop, said: “There is uncertainty for all of us. We do not know when a new one will spring up or when one might be closed down. But what stay the same are the numbers. There are too many here and the worry is that more will come from Westminster.” A neighbour, a single mother whose children walk past several shops with adult material in their windows on their way to a nearby school, added: “It got worse a few years back and then there was a lull but now it seems like word has got round and the shops in Eversholt Street are opening later and getting busier.” Calls have been made for a public meeting where residents can air concerns. Capping is already used in Westminster, where the council has attempted to restrict the number of sex shops to 16. Nevertheless, it is understood 20 may still be trading unlicensed. Speaking to the New Journal, Camden’s chief trading standards officer, Des Campbell, said the unlicensed sex shops would not be allowed to trade with impunity and would face regular spot- checks. He added that last week’s withdrawal of a bid by Maria O’Sullivan, mother of snooker champ Ronnie, to open a sex shop, left only one application, for a shop in Eversholt Street, to be resolved. Any further applications will face Camden’s capping policy. “It would no longer be a sensible business proposition to send in an application,” said Mr Campbell. But there remains concern over the shops trading as unlicensed premises. A Town Hall enforcement officer, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the amount of undercover work he carries out, confirmed that eight unlicensed sex shops were operating in Camden. They can stay open as long as they stock only a limited amount of explicit material but regular checks have thrown up cases where the rules have been broken. For example, a sex shop in Pentonville Road, King’s Cross, was once raided by trading standards officers and police, only to open again three hours later, he added. “It becomes a logistical nightmare,” the officer said. “But people do end up in the courts because we are always checking these shops. They know we will make visits.” |
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