egafd.com

There was an interesting court case brought by Berth Milton when DS first used the Private name in the UK. Unbelievably, DS won the right to use the title 'Private' on his mags here because, the court decided, the Milton Private was not (at the time) available in the UK over the counter, as it were. Like him (does anyone?) or not, you have to admire him for taking the letter of the law to it's 'Nth' degree pretty much constantly.

The one in Coventry by the football stadium is closed down now which I am glad about, not for any other reason than its next door to a public library. I always wondered how they have survived the past 5+ years with porn easily available on the net and cheaper prices from reputable companies. Good to see the back of these grubby shops and the rise of 'proper' establishments.

Hear hear!!

have you been in a coma for the past 12 years then? only kidding.

a tricky one this as first off, i wasn't aware of the Private shops' reputations. I've used the one in Soho for a few years and never had any problems (certainly never been ripped off), i remember once buying a video which when i got home had no audio, i took it back and they were happy to replace, but thats about it. I'll agree that they really do push you into buying as much as possible, i've gone in there before intending to buy just one vid/dvd and they start coming up with deals that involve spending in excess of ?70! (of course i never have).
To sum up, although i certainly don't condone or promote the private shops (and now knowing what i do about them my opinion is changing), i've always found them good value compared to the likes of Your choice, who while offer good quality products, do seem a little on the expensive side at times. I'm sure ive paid in the region of ?33 for a dvd before-too much!

I've been ripped off by these private shops 2-3 times in the 90's, I've chosen a title and ended up getting some other one, when all they have to say is they don't have that one in stock, then I can try and pick one they do have. They want you to spend the money, so when they can't find the title you need, they put a sticker over another title and label it with the title you want, only to find you are watching something you didn't pick. What a con. Another shop even ended up giving me a softcore title. Never been to those shops again. I can say that there was one better shop near china town off one of the main rds near Soho (can't remember the name), it was near the independant cinema & subway resturant. They used to sell copied tapes for ?20, but at least they gave you the title you ordered plus gave you a ?10 off for exchanges next time. I stopped going to that shop cause all the legal shops sold the R18 stuff at the same price and lower. The only good thing about that shop was they sold titles which were not out on R18 cert, but at the end of the day if you want to keep the title its better to buy orignal then a copied one. At least the orignal will still have some kind of value. I'll Stick to the official shops, at least the distribution & production companys can make some thing from it to make more videos for us to buy.

the private shop in derby seems to do some good deals, 3 vids/dvds for ?50 or 6 for ?100.