Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillors Begley, Banyard, and Parkhouse.

Councillor Wood was present as a substitute for Councillor Begley.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on

The Minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2026 were taken as read, approved, and signed by the Chair as correct following the correction of a spelling mistake.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by Members.

To receive the report of the Head of Service – Environment and Waste.

The Chair introduced the Officers and Members to the Applicant.

The Legal Advisor introduced the proceedings and outlined the procedure for the meeting.

The Legal Advisor advised Members that a late representation had been received and it was necessary to determine if this would be accepted.

The Applicant confirmed there was no objection to submitting the late representation andfollowing a unanimous vote, it was confirmed that the late representation could be considered when determining the application.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented the report making the following points:

• the Council had adopted the current Sex Establishments Licensing Policy in 2013;
• the policy set out that Sidwell Street and Fore Street were the only locations a sex shop licence could be considered;
• there was a slight variation with the opening hours, with an intention to open an hour later in the morning;
• adverts had been placed on the shop front and within the newspaper;
• four objections had been received within the statutory 28 day period, with 2 being rescinded;
• compliance visits to the premises had found it to be well-managed and fully complaint with the conditions of the current licence; and
• the policy was in the report.

The Principal Licensing Officer responded to questions from Members in the following terms:

• ‘Prowler’ were a well-known brand name in the gay community;
• the EQIA indicated a positive impact on sex and gender as the presence of a sex shop in the area was empowering to its users; and
• Simply Pleasure had had their licence in the current location for 19 years, and in Verney Street before that.

The Applicant spoke on behalf of their application making the following points:

• they had complied with been doing the licence renewal process for almost 20 years;
• they were committed to working to the conditions of their licence and Officers had never had any cause to raise concern;
• local people were employed in the shop;
• the sales assistants were exceptional and often gave advice to customers coming to shop in-store;
• there had been no considerable change to the local area in the last 12 months;
• a strict challenge 25 policy was in place, and they only accepted recognised identification documents;
• this was the only sex shop in this area;
• the majority of residents in this area university students over the age of 18;
• there was no involvement with nightclubs and the doors closed at 18:00;
• the statistics raised on the representation had no correlation with the store;
• they had not joined the SWAN (Safety of Women at Night) Charter, as the store closed at 18:00; and
• they had never had a licence renewal refused.

In response to Members questions the Applicant responded in the following terms:

• the only reported incidents at the premises related to shoplifting and refusal of entry for people that did not have ID;
• incidents were recorded in a shared file to enable the identification of patterns across stores;
• other Simply Pleasure stores advertised the Prowler brand as well as their being stand-alone Prowler  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.