in the news
from February 2006

CloneZone in Leeds is coming to the end of the lease on premises in Briggate and has said it will close unless a new application for a licence to permit the sale of R18 porn videos succeeds.

The last application, in 2003, was rejected by Leeds City Council, who issues licences. The reason given, only after pressure was applied by solicitors acting for the store, was that there were already sufficient ‘sex shops’ in the locality. Three objections to the application in 2003 were heard, two from Councillors and one from Adult X, the predominantly straight sex shop also in Briggate.

In the three years the store on Briggate has operated, selling a limited range of merchandise, no complaints have been received and no incidents have been reported.

Lee Johnson, Northern Regional Sales Manager for CloneZone confirmed: ‘About 30-50% of turnover in our other shops comes from the sale of R18 DVDs - Leeds is running at a loss and we can't afford to keep it going unless this application is successful.’

Documents seen by Shout! suggest a worrying atmosphere of homophobia at the Licensing Committee which heard the 2003 application. The Chair of the Committee commented: ‘We don’t want a gay ghetto like Manchester’; the panel also commented that the other sex shop on Briggate would soon cater for gay customers although no evidence was before the Committee to support that view. The two councillors who opposed the application, Mohammed Iqbal and Patrick Davey, are still members of the Council.

Johnson added: ‘We don’t see ourselves as a “sex-shop” but as a gay lifestyle store. We are the only non-alcohol based gay venue in Leeds and we carry a full range of safe-sex and community information. Our customers tell us they have been poorly treated in the shop across the road, with sniggers and outright homophobia.’

Leeds City Council charges £6,500 simply to apply for a licence - it is non-refundable in any circumstances. This compares with £400 charged by Belfast City Council for the same licence.

The shop also stocks all the gay free press and sponsors a number of community events, the most recent being The Pink Picnic.

Readers who wish to support the application can e-mail letters of support to leeJ@clonezone.co.uk Readers could also write to Councillor Ronnie Feldman, who now chairs the Committee, at Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. A petition in support of the previous application extended to 100 pages but failed to sway the Committee.

The shop is held on a three year lease which is about to expire. The store can then simply walk away from the premises.

The application has received support from a number of community groups and will be heard by the Licensing and Regulatory Panel on 7th March 2006 at Leeds Civic Hall.

Leeds City Council declined to comment on the application and did not answer e-mails from Shout! Cllr Andrew Carter, the Leader of the Council, also failed to comment.

Steve Mason