Out of time: a idiosyncratic history of adult cinemas and shops in Notts

It’s hard to believe now, but Nottingham once had a collection of adult cinemas. The British Board of Film Censors began to loosen restrictions in the late 1960s and early 1970s, leading to an increase not only in the adult entertainment industry but also in cinema attendance.

The Moulin Rouge Cinema on Trinity Square was possibly the first in the city to show adult content films, even if it was just a once-off. The cinema showcased Nudist Paradise briefly in 1967. Hilariously, it appears to have been just one in a run of nudist films shown at the cinema throughout the 1960s. In 1963, managers brought London strip club dancer Ingrid Anthrofer to perform alongside the film, Take Your Clothes Off and Live. In case things got too wild, city police were reportedly in attendance.

The most well-known of these cinemas was the Scala, or Classic Cinema on Market Street. The cinema was bought by Classic Cinema Chain in 1964, but it opened The Tatler Club in February 1972. It advertised, ‘modern entertainment in luxurious surroundings and carpeted comfort’ along with naughty films. You had to be a member to attend, so coupons were attached to local newspapers to incentivise people to join. The cost was £1 per year. The cinema appears to have put adult films on all three screens by 1980, but it wasn’t enough to save it. The Classic closed in 1984.

It wasn’t the only adult cinema as the Mini Cine Club opened on Lower Parliament Street in July 1977, but moved to Heatcoat Street in 1984. It also offered a slightly cheaper membership at 75p per year. Again, the cinema showed ‘uncensored films’, but it kept a lower profile by not advertising. The cinema made headlines after a raid by the vice squad, who arrested four men, including one councillor, on gross indecency in August 1990.

The Climax cinema was another adult cinema on Broad Street operating in the late 1970s. By the 1980s, it was renamed the Gallery Cine Club, complete with the new addition of an exotic dancer every Wednesday night. It’s unclear whether this establishment was or wasn’t an adult cinema, but a license to operate one was submitted in 1993. 

This was much to the horror of Mary and Harold, the managers of Lord Roberts pub, who worried it would put the women off playing darts. Mary told local newspapers that if the cinema opened, she would demand lower council tax. The cinema appears to have opened but closed in September 1996. When a license application to reopen it was submitted, it was met with a 1,000-strong petition from locals opposed to it. Councillors denied the application as they felt Hockley was no longer a suitable area, so the cinema became the ‘Gallery Lounge’ instead, showing classic films.

It wasn’t just about the films, as sex shops began opening in the 1970s. Delta Love, now located on Radford Road, was once owned by Frank Turner. However, it wasn’t his first location, even if Delta Love is widely thought of as Nottingham’s first sex shop. 

Frank originally opened the business in premises rented from the Quakers on Parliament Street. He told the owners that he was opening a health business under the name The Body Shop. Imagine the surprise that on paying a visit, the landlord was shocked to note he sold ‘sex aids and naughty knickers,’ detailed in the delighted Daily Mirror. He was threatened with eviction.

Frank eventually moved the business to Radford Road in December 1986, where he held a license on and off for years. It was noted that there were flats above the shop, but also, the window displays held very few items of a sexually explicit nature. The shop was opened in 2001 after Frank battled the council. Delta applied to the council’s licensing officer for a sex shop licence, but councillors wrote to block the move. A postal delay meant the letters arrived one day too late to stop this from going through. As there were no objections, the council approved it. It also hit headlines after the council officials gave it a £22,000 renovation grant. Frank passed away in December 2005. Delta Love was sold and remains open to this day.

Remarkably little information has survived about Sven Books. It is remembered as an adult bookshop, first based on Talbot Street, then on Mansfield Road, and some also recall it on Goldsmith Street. Visitors to Mansfield Road recalled the blacked-out windows as they hurried past. Unsurprisingly, no one admitted to going in. 

Although it did carry paperbacks and magazines, the shop may have sold more than that. It was quite common for sex shops to trade under ‘adult bookshops’ to avoid causing offence. It also sold ‘marital aids’ and videos.

The shop appears to have been part of a chain of adult shops owned by Darker Enterprise, who owned a chain of up to fifty shops, many of the same name. The company also traded under QuietLynn and Sheptonhurst.

Some cities faced protests and campaigns to drive Sven Book shops out as a result of the Government's attempt to institute an Indecent Displays Bill and license sex cinemas and shops in 1981. Similar protests against the sale of pornography were made at other sex shops, on Carrington Street in Nottingham, to mark International Women’s Day in 1989.

It’s unclear when it opened and closed in Nottingham, but it moved into Coventry and Derby in the mid-1980s. Darker Enterprises was bought out  in 2022.

While we may all be familiar with the brand, Ann Summers, it wasn’t always that way. However, the brand had its eye on a Nottingham location back in the 1970s, sparking fears that it would open what the Nottingham Post dubbed ‘a sex supermarket.’ 

Incredibly, the brand began in 1971 in London’s Marble Arch. The original owners were bought out by the Gold Family the year after it opened. It would be 1981 before Jacqueline Gold, the Executive Chair, conceived the idea for the infamous Ann Summers parties. She later became the director. 

A spokesperson denied that plans for a supermarket were underway, but did confirm that Nottingham was a great location. It was highlighted that if the council blocked a location in Birmingham, then the owners would look to Nottingham. It wasn’t until 1997 that Ann Summers opened its twelfth branch on Long Row in the former United Colours of Benetton store. 

“Nottingham is a top area in terms of Ann Summers’ Parties,” Gold told The Post. “That’s why we’ve decided to open a shop here. When we advertised for shop staff, we had three times the usual number come along.” She mentioned there were around 400 parties per week in Nottingham in that first year.