SEX and lingerie shop Ann Summers has secured a prime ground-floor site in Canterbury's prestigious Whitefriars shopping development.

The store will be larger than most Ann Summers shops, with a floor space of 1,400 square ft. It will open when the flagship £100 million shopping centre is unveiled this summer.

The chain--whose website is titled Sex Superstore--says it is the success and popularity of privately-organised Ann Summers house parties in this area that tested the market for the larger-than-average store.

It will be situated next to Clinton's card shop and Sunglass Hut, near to the Tesco Metro.

As well as sex toys and videos, Ann Summers stocks racy lingerie, including costumes titled Are You Being Served?, Wench, Room Service, Nurse and Dirty Devil.

Ann Summers spokesperson Phil Toomey said attitudes towards sex have changed and the chain is now a mainstream retailer.

He said: "If party plans are going well in an area, that is our litmus test, and we have got very good results in the area and Kent as a whole.

"We are a mainstream retailer, and only occupy High Street and shopping centre sites.

"Customer attitudes have changed a lot in the last decade, the media has made sex a lot more open. The atmosphere in our shops is a lot of fun and very relaxed.

"The date for opening has not been finalised, but we are due to start recruiting in April. It is larger than our normal store size."