A BID to open a sex shop specialising in fetish products in Worcester City centre has been thrown out by councillors.

The chairman of the council's licensing committee, Coun David Clark, had to use his casting vote to reject the application from family-run firm Provincial Enterprises yesterday.

Coun Clark decided the matter after five councillors voted in favour and five voted against.

The shop, which would have been called Adult X, was planned for Lowesmoor Terrace. Nearby Lowesmoor is home to Worcester's existing sex shop, The Private Shop.

The director of the company, Kevin Mitchell, already has six shops in the north of England, the most recent of which was opened in Darlington. He runs the business with his wife and daughter.

The Darlington application provoked considerable media interest and 100 objections, but Worcester City Council received only four objections to this proposal.

Barrister Miss Nageena Khalique, representing Mr Mitchell, said the shop would be discreet and it would not be apparent to most people what it was.

She said the company's fetish speciality meant it would stock different products to The Private Shop. "It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the legislation says these shops can exist," she said.

She said Mr Mitchell ran his shops very professionally and said customers came from all walks of life.

"There's clearly a misconception about the sort of people who use sex shops," she said.

"Any moral judgements that are put forward must be discounted. People who visit the shops are perfectly ordinary."

She also pointed out that the area contained a mixture of residential and retail properties, and said the proposed sex shop could not exist in a vacuum.

Opponents to the application objected mainly on moral grounds. One said two sex shops in the same area would degrade the area even more, while another said it was "unnecessary as well as undesirable".

After debating the issue, Coun Clark said the committee members opposed to the shop thought there was no need for a second such establishment.

"We've thought about how many are appropriate for the area, and we consider it to be just one," he said.

Mr Mitchell is unlikely to appeal against the council's decision. However, another company has made an inquiry into applying for a sex shop licence in Worcester, it has been revealed.