• Guidance to Licensing a Sex Establishment
• Licence Fees
• Policing & Crime Act - Sex Entertainment

Sex Shop Licence

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01903 221068

licensing.unit@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Sex Shop Licensing

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 requires premises which operate as sex shops to obtain a licence from the Borough Council before commencing to trade.

A sex shop is any premise, vehicle, vessel or stall used for a business that consists, to a significant degree, of selling, hiring, exchanging, lending, displaying or demonstrating sex articles.

At present there are no licensed sex shops in the borough of Worthing though there are a number of unlicensed shops that do sell sex articles.

The main difference between a licensed and unlicensed sex shop is that a licence enables the sale of films (inc. DVDs and videos) classified as R18 by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Such films may be supplied to adults only on the premises of a licensed sex shop, of which there are currently about 90 in the UK.

It is an offence to sell such films from unlicensed premises or by mail order.

Furthermore, a licensed sex shop cannot by law admit persons under the age of 18 into the premises, either as customers or to work, and allows the Licensing Authority to impose appropriate conditions on the premises controlling how the business is operated. These include conditions regarding the appearance of the premises, its hours of business and the content of its advertising on the building and within.

Worthing Borough Council's Licensing Unit is the department responsible for the licensing of sex shops and the enforcement of the relevant regulations under the legislation. For guidance to the licensing of such establishments and an application form please select the relevant page from the menu in the top left hand corner.

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