SHOPPERS have been urged to boycott a town centre sex shop operating without a licence because council bosses have been unable to close it down.

Traders, council officers and councillors today made the call after solicitors employed by Blackburn with Darwen Council hit a brick wall in their attempts to take action against the Pirate Shop in Darwen Street.

Work is set to begin on improving the appearance of the area in the next few weeks, and it is feared the shop -- near to a teenage pregnancy support centre -- could spoil it.

But an assistant working in the shop today claimed there was nothing the council could do -- because it didn't just sell sex-related goods. The shop is opposite The Private Shop, a licensed sex shop which pays £4,000 a year for a licence and which the council has never had a complaint about.

Coun Maureen Bateson, who is in charge of consumer affairs, added: "It is very frustrating because effectively we have no control over them so they could be selling anything.

"The best thing people can do is not use it. If they need to go to a private shop, which they are perfectly entitled to do, we would ask they use one which we are able to regularly inspect."

Legislation dictates that any shop which sells a significant amount of sex-related goods must have a licence and adhere to various controls.

Several raids have been carried out by trading standards, the police and licensing enforcement staff to gather evidence for a prosecution against the Pirate Shop owners for not having a licence.

But all inquiries have failed to trace the owner have failed. The council today said the trading address given inside the shop simply leads officers to another sex shop and so on in a circle of around 60 shops.

Trading Standards officers have recently raided the shop and seized videos which allegedly had not been classified, an offence under the Video Recording Act.

A man from the shop is due to appear in court on July 15 in connection with the offence, and could face a fine of £20,000 for every illegal video seized.

However, a prosecution for not having a licence would probably fail in court unless the council could prove the man ran the shop, the council's legal officers have advised.

Denise Johnson, the council's head of environmental health, said: "We are trying to take action against the people who own it but they appear to have been very clever about what they are doing.

"We simply cannot find out who owns the shop so we cannot prosecute them for not having a licence. There have been several raids and material taken to prove it is a sex shop but then we just run up against the problem of who to prosecute.

"We aren't the only town to have this problem. We would ask people not to shop there."

Reasons for refusing a licence can include its proximity to another sex shop, the effect it would have on neighbouring properties or that the licence applicant has an unsuitable criminal conviction.

The Pirate Shop is two doors away from the Brook Advisory Centre, a drop in point for teenagers wanting help and advice on matters such as sex, pregnancy and relationships.

When the Lancashire Evening Telegraph went to the shop, a man behind the counter said he had to speak to his boss by mobile phone before agreeing to talk to us and refused to give his name.

He said: "We sell DVDs and videos, and most of our stuff is not sexual aids so we don't need a licence.

"We have been doing this for years with no problems.

"If people have a problem with our shop front, then the council can come along and fit roller shutters and we will display our lingerie in the window. It is their fault we can't do that because the windows are always being kicked in.

"The signs at the moment are red. The boss thought about fluorescent orange so it isn't that bad."

Ronnie O'Keeffe, presidents of the Blackburn District Chamber of Trade, said: "A lot of work is about to take place improving Darwen Street, with new pavements and so on so it will be a much nicer place to shop.

"But that shop spoils the whole street."