DISMAYED traders and residents have lost their fight to stop a sex shop opening on their doorstep.
The Love Boutique is likely to open next month in Nantwich Road after being given the go-ahead by councillors yesterday despite objections from people who say it will lower the area's tone.
Selling sex toys, raunchy outfits and films, the shop was granted a licence to trade to the over-18s from a former TV repair centre at 100 Nantwich Road.
Owner Andrew Berry, 33, a Northwich man who manages sex shops in Preston and Stockport, said Crewe needed another sex shop because the one in Edleston Road had a monopoly.
But he promised to spare the blushes of families walking on the busy route.
He said: 'There won't be any neon lights saying sex shop and the window won't contain things that will make families freak out.'
He said CCTV would help staff pinpoint any under-18s trying to sneak in and ID would be asked for if they had any doubt over a customer's age.
But protester Helga Armonies, a pensioner of Chambers Street, said: 'We already have a problem with drunken, rowdy behaviour on Nantwich Road and this shop will not help to attract the right calibre of people.
'Vast sums of money are being ploughed into improving the image of Nantwich Road and this shop is not the kind we residents want to see.'
Trader David Easton, of computer business Evolution Systems, said: 'This shop will lower the tone and destroy attempts to create a more family shopper-friendly environment.'
The Rev Rob Wykes, who has campaigned against sex shops opening in Crewe in the past, said the outcome of the application was shocking.
But Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council could not refuse on moral or religious grounds.
Licensing committee chairman Terry Beard said: 'We recognise there is a problem on Nantwich Road, but there is no evidence to say a sex shop will make matters worse.'
The shop will be allowed to open from 9.30am-6pm Monday to Saturdays.
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