Sex Establishments

Any person wishing to run a sex Establishment within the City of Gloucester may only do so with the appropriate licence from the Council.

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 Schedule 3 (as amended) makes provision for Gloucester City Council to exercise licensing controls over all ‘sex establishments’ in the local authority area. Sex Establishments will now include ‘sex shops’, ‘sex cinemas’ and ‘sexual entertainment venues’.

A sex shop may be any premises, vehicle, vessel or stall used to a significant degree for the business of supplying, displaying or demonstrating sex articles.

A sex cinema means any premises, vehicle, vessel or stall used to a significant degree for the exhibition of moving pictures, intended to stimulate or encourage sexual activity.

A sexual entertainment venue includes any premises where relevant entertainment is provided with the principal purpose of sexually stimulating any member of the audience.

Make an application

If you require any further information concerning the above please contact the Environmental Health Team or Apply Onine via the Business Link website or download the application (PDF, 370.6 KB).

Fees for Sex Establishments can be found here (PDF, 318.4 KB).

Gloucester City Council Sex Establishments Policy Statement

On 24th February 2011 Gloucester City Council resolved to adopt the provisions of Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2009. The Council resolved that the amended provisions will come into force in their administrative area on 1st April 2011.

With this in mind Gloucester City Council has produced a Sex Establishments Policy Statement (PDF, 1.4 MB) which sets out how it will seek to exercise its licensing functions in respect of sex establishments.

The Council aims to review its Sex Establishment Policy Statement once every five years. The latest Policy Statement was last reviewed in July 2014.