A bookshop owner has been given permission to open a town's first sex shop.

Jim Powell has been granted a sex establishment licence by Crawley Borough Council for Popular Books in Ifield Road, off the High Street in Crawley town centre.

The shop currently sells soft porn and second-hand paperback books.

The licence will allow restricted 18 category films, sexually explicit magazines and sex aids to be sold.

Mr Powell said: "I decided to apply for a licence because customers keep asking me to stock this sort of thing. Also, it will make money."

The licence is being granted on condition the shop window is blacked out and the door screened so people walking past cannot see inside.

The council received no objections to the proposal.