A SEX shop in Worcester is to open on Sundays.

Every year for the past decade The Private Shop, in Lowesmoor, Worcester, has re-applied for permission to extend its opening hours during the festive season without complaints.

Now, following a decision by the Worcester City Council licensing committee, the shop - which predominately sells pornographic DVDs - has been given the green light to open from 10am to 4pm on Sundays in the two weeks preceding Christmas.

The shop must reapply for its licence to trade each year, but the committee, which met at Worcester Guildhall on Thursday decided it would no longer need to seek separate permission for extra opening hours at Christmas.

At the meeting, Councillor Gareth Jones objected to the move.

"I've no problem with the licence but I am concerned with it remaining open on the two Sundays preceding Christmas," he said.

"I'm just not in favour of Sunday openings."

In the past The Private Shop, which opened in 1996, had been stopped from opening on Sundays and, in 1997, a sex shop in Newport Street, Worcester, closed just a week after it opened because the council refused to give it a licence.

On Thursday, the committee granted the new variation and licence renewal. Members also expressed a desire for all future applications to come before the committee as they had previously been granted by licensing officers instead of councillors.

The Private Shop will now open from 9.30am to 6pm for the majority of the year; 9.30am to 8pm on Monday to Saturdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays in the two weeks before Christmas.