THE new owner of a Weymouth sex shop has gained permission to display underwear in the window of his business as he endeavours to go upmarket.

Jonathan Spencer will display lingerie in the window of his Erotica Belle shop in Ranelagh Road in an effort to move his business on from what he described as the ‘dirty mac brigade’ reputation of sex shops.

The shop, formerly Discretion, is opposite the train station at the entrance to the Park District. It has held a licence since July 2005 and was renamed Erotica Belle in July.

The decision to allow items of a non-sexual nature to be displayed to the public was one of eight variations on the licence granted by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s Licensing Committee.

The committee received one letter of objection, 18 letters of support and a petition signed by around 120 people in favour of the move to change the building’s appearance.

Mr Spencer, who owns a similar shop in Bournemouth and is looking to open another in Poole, said he wanted to make changes to improve the shop’s appearance.

Mr Spencer told the committee: “When I took over in July it was a run-down adult shop with the appearance of a 1980s sex shop.

“It was not very attractive to the neighbourhood and I want to change that and make it more attractive to couples and more welcoming to people so it makes a more positive impact to the neighbourhood.

“The dirty mac brigade have gone, now it’s more for couples.

“I’ve changed the products in the shop so they are less adult. I want to go more down the lingerie route and the gift route.”

Ken Whatley, who addressed the committee on behalf of the Park District community forum, raised concerns.

Mr Whatley said: “What we at the forum are concerned about is that we don’t really want lingerie on display in the Park District or for that to be the first sight of Weymouth for people arriving at the train station.”

He added: “Our concerns are also if you start putting signs like Erotica Belle up people will start to perceive the area for more than what it is.”

But the committee said it was satisfied with the changes.

Committee chairman Ian James said: “We have taken into account all the information submitted and the letters of support and feel it’s reasonable to grant the application with the restrictions we have added.”

Speaking after the meeting, Erotica Belle employee Sarah Vincent, who lives in the Park District, said: “People keep thinking the shop is a pub or a brothel, and it’s not, and that gives the area a bad image.

“I don’t want to live in a place where people assume something that is wrong.”

COUNCIL RULES ON eight variations on licence

There were eight variations on the licence for Erotica Belle.

These were:

• A change in opening hours to allow the shop to open until 8pm, rather than the previous 7.30pm cut off point on weekdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Restrictions on opening on Easter Sunday and Good Friday were added to Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve as the days the store has to close

• Introducing staff uniforms

• To stock less adult goods and start to increase lingerie and gift items

• To create window displays of items not covered under a sex shop licence

• Change of entrance to a single door while ensuring no product covered under the sex shop licence could be viewed by people walking past the shop

• A daily register of employees kept

• Outside signs to read ‘Licensed Adult Shop’ and ‘Strictly over 18s. ID may be required’

• Identifying products by using a LCD display no bigger than 23 inches inside the shop