J HARRISON supports teachers' opposition to the Bootham sex shop on the grounds that they should be trying to "instil proper moral values" into their pupils (Letters, March 8).

Whether you believe trading merchandise related to human sexual activity is moral or not, it certainly comes way down the list of problems affecting the south end of Bootham.

The existing sex shop is so discreetly run I wasn't aware it existed until the controversy emerged in this newspaper, and I have lived in Bootham for five years. Given that the new one is to be run by the same proprietors, I do not anticipate any problem, moral or otherwise.

I am aware of the drunken yobs screaming obscenities outside The Exhibition pub; teenagers congregating outside Jackson's and the kebab shop smoking and hassling passers-by, and a rat I saw emerging from the derelict former Kwik Fit garage (a political refugee from Bootham Park after the exterminators moved in?).

If the headteachers of Bootham School and St Peter's are genuinely interested in making Bootham a more suitable environment for two schools and their pupils - and residents - their energies should be directed at bigger problems than the sex shop.

Leo Enticknap,

Ingram House,

Bootham, York.

Updated: 09:56 Thursday, March 10, 2005