PASSION retailer Ann Summers has put a respectable and funky face on the sex business, bringing it out of the back streets and, now, into Canterbury's flagship Whitefriars centre.

It is confident the store will prove its biggest success story in the South East, and if the diverse cross section which raced across the threshold on its opening day was anything to go by it will not be wrong.

As the doors opened at noon on Thursday, a curious crowd filled the store within seconds, keeping store manager Sandra Ford and her team of 12 staff busy from the off.

Sandra is confident her 1,400 sq ft store - one of the largest in the South East region - is going to be one of the business' big successes.

She said: "Ann Summers has moved things on from peoples' idea of a sex shop, we are a place where confident women shop in an atmosphere that is fun and very relaxed.

"It's not just about sex toys, it's also about lovely, pretty lingerie in our Kinckerbox range that anyone would want to wear.

"We have obviously also got the naughty nurse outfits and PVC, the playwear side is the fun aspect that Ann Summers is known for and of course the Rampant Rabbit. But that is all at the back of the store and under 18s are not allowed in there. There are staff overseeing that rule, so it is not being forced on anybody.

"We are just aiming to spice up peoples' love lives. I'd say to any of our critics just come into the store and see for yourselves."