IT could be the end of the line for lewd and tacky goods in Blackpool -- as a direct result of The Citizen's anti-sleaze campaign.

The police, acting after studying our dossier of readers' letters, issued a "cover-up" warning to Promenade traders selling questionable novelties like false boobs, false bottoms and phallic-shaped rock among others.

Over the first two weekends in September, police officers and council inspectors have visited gift shops and stalls to see what was on sale -- and agreed that some of the merchandise was not suitable to be on show.

Every shop and stall owner displaying tasteless souvenirs was warned to keep them "behind the counter" or face prosecution.

The hard-line approach has come about after police chiefs met with trading standards officers in response to a huge public outcry when The Citizen started the campaign for an end to the sleaze and drunken, loutish behaviour in the resort. And it looks like the Promenade could be on the upturn. Our investigator toured the seafront shops yesterday (September 20) and found that most had concealed adult souvenirs and rude gimmicks.

Signs were also in place warning customers about the adult content of their displays which had been moved to the rear of the shops.

Some had concealed the souvenirs by strategically placing the price tags in front of them.

Every stallholder we spoke to had been visited by police. One, who has worked in Brighton and several other resorts around the country, said Blackpool was the worst town he had worked in for tackiness and bad behaviour.

He said: "My eyes have really been opened here. It's unbelievable what you see. People are simply not bothered. They come in the shop, ask to try something on and just drop their trousers in front of everybody.

"Last week a man walked past wearing a short nurse's uniform. He had no underpants on and there were children walking past -- it is disgusting that people are allowed to behave like that.

"The police visited us last week and we are now complying with their requests but it needs more than this to make it a family resort. We need more police on the street to stop all the bad behaviour." Residents and visitors wrote in to The Citizen expressing their disgust at Blackpool's recent decline. And tacky merchandise was just one of the complaints. The town's litter-strewn streets and the drunken behaviour of visitors also featured high in readers' letters.

Police bosses contacted The Citizen and asked us to supply them with a dossier on the sleaze which we compiled with the help of our readers over the last two months.

Chief Supt Dick Taylor then met council leader George Bancroft and Councillor Roy Fisher to discuss ways of cleaning up the resort's image.

Chief Inspector Mark Bartlett, who is overseeing the project, said issuing the shop owners with a warning was the first step.

He said: "Our officers inspected the goods on offer at many shops and it was agreed that some shops sold material that was thought to be indecent.

"Our officers then warned the shop owners that the goods must be concealed behind the counter."

He said the police and the council's trading standards officers would continue to monitor the resort's shops to make sure goods were not displayed for families and children to see. Shops who continued to display the goods would face prosecution.