ECHO reporter Paul McAuley swaps stories for sex toys as he works a shift at Scandals
18:20, 16 Aug 2025Updated 18:39, 16 Aug 2025
Paul McAuley is a Senior Life Reporter for the Liverpool ECHO, focusing on communities from all walks of life who make the city so diverse and rich.
From new restaurant openings to cultural events, Paul specialises in covering everything that’s going on across the city.
Moving from Ireland, Paul studied journalism at Liverpool John Moores University before joining the ECHO in the summer of 2021. You can reach him on Twitter or his email.
Reporter Paul McAuley working a shift at Scandals in Liverpool city centre
14 is the number that keeps coming up during my shift at one of the city’s family-run sex shops. It is the number of DVDs a paranoid man bought following the UK’s porn block, it is the price it will cost you if you are looking for same-day Uber delivery of a toy, and it is the number of bottles of lube stocked behind the till on this particular day.
From Monday to Thursday of this week, I was your everyday – arguably handsome – journalist. But on Friday, I ventured down to Scandals on Hanover Street to become their newest sales assistant.
You’d be forgiven for having never heard or seen the shop. Fronted by Catherine Kershaw and Ben Hughes, the store is hidden downstairs beyond a neighbouring youth charity. Access is only gained to the shop when you have been given the green light by the energetic Joseph Mableson.
The 23-year-old former University of Liverpool student, known widely as his drag queen persona, Genevieve Renee, took a quick break from scouring the internet for a particular pair of handcuffs that “are impossible to find” to buzz me in.
I’ve been to a few sex shops in my time – in this day and age, who hasn’t, with a group of university friends in a new city. Scandals is particularly different, I found.
Reporter Paul McAuley working a shift with social media manager and sales assistant Joseph Mableson at Scandals
If you wanted to hide, this isn’t the place for you—only one thick steel block in the middle of the room blocks anyone’s view, as opposed to the typical aisles you would find in Tesco or Asda. However, it’s clear that Scandals customers don’t want to shy away. Instead, they want to feel the products, compare item A with item B, and, more so, get their money’s worth.
The first customer of my shift certainly wanted to do so anyway. As I was tucked away in the backroom making a brew round – a rite of passage for any new start – a husky-voiced man quizzed if the two-for-20 deal was still on for the bottles of poppers.
Sadly for him, it wasn’t. And just like that he headed back out the door. He was straight in and straight out, and as Joseph explained to me, this can be a typical interaction for some customers, but others prefer to take their time.
Take the next customers, for example. When the Irish couple initially came in they headed straight to the bondage section to take it all in. They explored the mouth ball, a pair of leather gloves and laughed at the gimp mask.
Reporter Paul McAuley working in the lingerie section of Scandals
It was clear it was for amusement rather than actual interest—it was like pretending to browse the restaurant menu as if you hadn’t spent hours examining it online before you arrived.
They finally got down to why they were there when they went to the electronics section. Joseph, a languages graduate, tells them he has never heard of the item they’re looking for but offers a suitable alternative.
But these two had their heart set on one particular item and were not willing to settle for anything less. So, similar to the first gentleman, they made for the exit and continued on their never-ending quest.
Joseph and I finally have a moment to discuss things. He doesn’t waste any time explaining how the shop runs. In between taking calls from the other stores in Bootle and Birkenhead, he says: “When I tell people what I do, they always say that it is the perfect job for me, and I agree with them.
Reporter Paul McAuley with Joseph Mableson at Scandals city centre store – one of three in the region
“I think it is. It’s just like Flannels to me. We have a personalised shopping experience, just with different products on the shelves. The environment just becomes natural to you at a point.”
In fairness to him, he did seem in his prime. He has that charm that would make you buy something just for the sake of it. But this isn’t what Scandals is there for.
The brand isn’t in it for the profit, and that’s why they haven’t raised their prices of porn DVDs despite seeing a recent surge in demand since the change in legislation for verification of age.
He nonchalantly tells me: “We knew the ban was coming, so we’ve been preparing for it. We haven’t changed our price tags. We are a business, but we aren’t in this to make money – we do it for the customers. We have stayed true to what we thought the DVDs were before this happened.
Scandals Adult store in Bootle run by Catherine Kershaw and Ben Hughes(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“Your average customer number is around 10 to 20, but it’s never gonna be a shop with queues down out the door and down the road. You’re not coming here for a £2 pint of milk. It’s a shop where people come because they want or need something, and they are willing to spend that extra bit of money on a product.
“Our attitude seems to be working because nothing ever gets returned. I think I’ve only ever had one return, and that was because it was the wrong size of lingerie.”
Peering out from the shop’s most expensive item, a £999 larger-than-life version of the male’s genital, is expectant mum Abigail Read.
The 32-year-old, from Crosby, works at the Derby Road store but has a presence through all venues. She focuses more on the well-being side of sex, including hygiene and what lube to use.
Scandals Adult store in Bootle is bigger compared to the Liverpool city centre store ECHO reporter Paul McAuley worked in(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The former Victoria’s Secret worker starts the conversation by addressing an age-old myth. “You’ve probably heard it,” she assumes. “Bigger isn’t better, but a lot of people, especially younger, think it is. They have seen such much online and feel that is how sex should go, how it should feel and look, but this just isn’t it. And that’s really where I come in and explain this isn’t the case at all.”
It’s not just with customers that Abigail shares her advice. Joseph and she regularly head out to events to meet and help the public and, most recently, the LGBTQ+ community.
The shop held a Pride Party and, following its success, is now looking to make the most of the new wave of students at an upcoming Freshers Fair-style event.
If you have any nerves visiting a sex shop, you shouldn’t when visiting Scandals – take it from me, a now-ex member of staff and once again every day – arguably handsome – journalist.