Parents demand adult-only shops near Sydney primary school to shut

“If they ask ‘What’s that shop, Mummy?’, what should I say?” asked a concerned parent, who is demanding the southwestern Sydney adult-only shops to shut.

Parents are fed up with walking their children to primary school every day, only to hide their eyes from the lewd adult-only shops littered down the street.

Every morning, hundreds of parents take their children to school, but those whose kids attend Liverpool Public Primary School in southwest Sydney, the journey is a little less than enjoyable.

Parents are fed up with walking past adult-only shops while taking their children to a Sydney primary school. Picture: A Current Affair

Along the path to the school is a shopping strip littered with retailers that are less than kid-friendly, including massage parlours, adult shops and a methadone clinic.

“As soon as I got my kids into this school, I noticed them straight away,” a concerned parent told A Current Affair on Thursday night.

Residents have called for the shops to shut. Picture: A Current Affair

A grandmother, who has been taking her children and grandchildren to the same primary school for four decades, is fed up with exposing young children to such lewd retailers every morning.

“It’s not nice to walk up and down here,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a good place for them to have the brothels … I think they should be somewhere else.”

It’s an awkward subject to discuss if children bring it up on their way to school. “If they ask ‘What’s that shop, Mummy?’, what should I say?” another mother asked. “I actually don’t know.”

Parents and grandparents are embarrassed to walk the children past the shops. Picture: A Current Affair

Despite the outcry from locals and demands to shut the lewd shops, Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun said his “hands are tied” with responsibility falling into the lap of the state government.

There are endless lewd shops in the area. Picture: A Current Affair

Legislation passed in 2008 banned all seedy establishments from the area, but businesses that opened and operated there prior to the ban have the legal right to stay.

“We have been trying for ages to get rid of them,” the mayor told ACA.

“We need the state government to change legislation to make those buildings and those usages subject to reassessment as time goes by.”

Speaking to NewsWire, a spokesman for the Department of Education NSW said while they may be able to fight against a pub opening around the corner from a primary school, they’re unable to do anything about the adult-only shops in the area.

Originally published as Parents demand adult-only shops near Sydney primary school to shut