ANGRY traders are demanding the closure of an X-rated sex shop which has opened on a busy town centre street.

Last week, the Hot Spot sex shop opened its doors for business on Market Street, Atherton, to the shock of nearby shopkeepers who say they knew nothing of the plans.

The shop, which advertises adult magazines, books, toys and films, is sandwiched between a hire shop and photographic studio, and is just yards from a quiet terraced street.

Traders and residents are demanding the shop be closed down, and council bosses last night confirmed this is now under investigation.

A member of the local traders' association said that a petition could be started soon, calling for the shop's closure, adding: "People are not happy about this shop.

"We knew nothing about it until it opened, it was a complete shock.

"I run a shop nearby which is visited by a lot of children and I'm worried that they will have to walk past it.

"There's a possibility that a petition could be started, bearing in mind the incredible reaction there's been to it.

"People at a meeting of the traders' association just couldn't believe it's opened here."

Outraged residents living round the corner from the shop say they are also set to lobby the council about the store.

Customers enter the shop through a back door in a ginnel between two homes.

One 62-year-old man, who lives in Sumner Street, Atherton, said: "Something like that should not be in a built-up area like this. There are kids walking past it all the time."

A spokesman for Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council said officers were investigating the shop to see if it needed to trade under a special licence.

He added: "This matter has only just come to our attention."

Adamant

But a member of staff at the sex shop was adamant that the store would not close.

The woman employee, who would only give her name as Mary, admitted to the BEN that on the first day of trading, she had dressed up in a saucy maid's outfit.

She added: "We have had plenty of customers in since we opened up.

"People have been coming in and saying how brilliant it is to have a sex shop in Atherton.

"As far as I'm concerned we're not moving. We're not doing anything wrong.

"If they want us to shut, it's tough. We're going nowhere."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.