All most all license adult stores in the UK are forbidden
from having their wares in open shop windows, which means often the shop fronts
are boarded up or covered in posters. A warning sign must be clearly shown at
the entrance to the store, and no sex articles (for example, pornography or sex
toys) should be visible from the street. However, lingerie, non-offensive
covers of adult material, etc. may be shown depending on the license conditions
of the local authority. No customer can be under eighteen years old.
The Ann Summers chain of lingerie and sex
toy shops recently won the right
to advertise for shop assistants in Job Centers, which was originally banned
under restrictions on what advertising could be carried out by the sex
industry. The increasing acceptance of sex shops can also be seen as the north-west
England chain Nice 'n' Naughty became the first adult company to win an
investor in people award.