REIGATE, ENGLAND — Residents and passersby are used to seeing the past along the streets of Reigate. After all, it’s a historic market town packed with visual reminders of days, years, decades, and centuries gone by. For one shop owner, that past is bluer than its bluest hydrangeas. Clare Ross and her mother, Shirley, own the Willows florist shop, a popular stop in the London commuter belt town. Each morning, when the windows mist, the duo and all who walk by are reminded of the kinds of petals and pistols that the previous tenants sold from within the shop’s four walls.
“We have done everything we can to get rid of it, but it just won’t go away,” Ross explained to the Telegraph. “Every day it’s back.”
The “it” to which the 40-year-old shop owner refers is faint window lettering from the previous establishment that simply will not go away, no matter how much elbow grease or other cleansers are applied.
“I knew this place had been a sex shop, but it was completely empty when we took it over. There were no signs of its past at all,” Ross continued. “Then, suddenly these huge letters appeared in the morning condensation, saying ‘licensed sex shop’ above our Interflora sign.”
Ross reports that, concerned about how prospective customers might respond to the phantom signage, she hired a professional window cleaner to take care of the mess. When that didn’t work, lighter fluid, gasoline and scouring pads proved equally ineffective at removing the traces of glue that have somehow imbedded themselves into the glass.
Although The Pillow Talk shop endured plenty of community outrage, including a petition with 289 signatures of protest and 173 letters of objection, it apparently kept a low profile, complete with blacked out windows that concealed its DVDs, sex toys and fetish garments.
Much to Ross’ relief, the remnants of her businesses’ physical location have not proven to be the professional hardship she originally feared. Although she has considered replacing the window, “now everyone has got used to it, it’s become a bit of a talking point,” she observes. “People come in to ask us if we realize there is ‘sex shop’ emblazoned on our window and end up buying flowers, so maybe we’ll keep it.”
