The owner of a Kent sex shop says she feels partly responsible for an apparent coronavirus lockdown baby-boom.

Tracey Whitmore, who runs Vibez Adult Boutique in Aylesford, says there was a surge in sales of sex toys designed for couples, and bondage gear when the second lockdown was announced.

She believes that there's only so much Netflix and banana bread you can take before looking for an even fruitier ways to pass the time.

Speaking to KentLive, she said: "People are getting more involved in the scene, there’s only so much Netflix you can watch isn’t there?

"They were trying to keep themselves occupied, there’s been a baby boom which I partly feel responsible for."

There is currently no evidence of a Brit baby boom, but some are expecting maternity wards to be brimming next year.

Vibez, which is located in a huge warehouse on an industrial estate, stocks everything from classy lingerie to £4,000 "Samantha" sex dolls.

And she says her customers were desperate to get their hands on some new kit after being left to amuse themselves indoors for months.

She said: "When we opened up again after the first lockdown it went crazy. People had been cooped up far too long.

"With the warning we had for the second lockdown people knew they’d need to properly get their orders in.

"It was a bit of everything really, our mechanical aid machines were big sellers.

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"We also sold a lot of couple toys and bondage equipment.

"We do sell face masks but you can’t really social distance with the products we sell."

Tracey, who has run the shop with her son for 15 years, added that she had adapted her business in line with changing consumer needs after they were caught out by March's mothballing of non-essential businesses.

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She arranged a delivery service for the next wave of restrictions, with a predictably cheeky name.

Tracey explained: "With the second lockdown people stocked up, we were very busy just before we went in to it.

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"We started to offer some services. One was called Deliverooh which was a free local delivery and come and collect.

"With that and the website sales we did OK and it helped that our customers stayed very loyal.

"Obviously we weren’t as busy as when we had the shop open. In fact just before we closed in March business was really booming."

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