A Darlington sex shop has bid farewell to the town after 53 years of pleasing customers with its quirky offerings.

Established in 1969, the Adults Only store on Grange Road has been serving customers – both locals and passing traffic – with a range of items.

Several reports had previously circulated that the shop had fully wound down in Darlington, leading to speculation about the future of Adults Only.

But on Tuesday (August 30), the closure was all but confirmed after the frontage from the store and all its contents had been removed.

Bars across the windows and doorway had been spotted and a sign on the shop door reading “refurbished shop to let – available mid-October" further confirmed the news.

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Despite serving customers for over 50 years, the store has not been without controversy.

In 2007, the owners of Adults Only tried to block the application to allow rival store Cherry Pie, on King Street, to open – leading to a bitter planning feud which saw Cherry Pie granted permission.

Bosses at Adults Only also paid for an advertisement in The Northern Echo and handed out leaflets to businesses and town shoppers, asking people to object to the application.

At the time, Terry Hamer, a solicitor acting on behalf of Adults Only, said: "My client feels very strongly that the reality is his livelihood is being threatened by people who see Darlington as a soft touch to getting a sex shop."

At one point, Darlington had four sex shops, including Adults Only – but now only has one, Simply Pleasure, on Bondgate. 

Will you miss the shop? Let us know in the comments.

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