Here we look at photos from the Oxford Mail archive from the 1980s.

It was a decade when the landlord of the Abingdon Arms in Thame gave a donkey a pint, and people protested outside a sex shop on Cowley Road, calling for it to close.

Oxford Mail:

Mothers mounted a protest picket as the city's first sex shop opened its doors in March 1981.

READ MORE: New Greek restaurant could be coming to Cornmarket 

The handful of early customers - including two middle aged women - had to run a gauntlet of placard-waving protesters who thronged the pavement outside the shop in Cowley Road.

There were even scuffles as one man tried to wrestle a press photographer's camera from him after being photographed leaving the store.

Oxford Mail:

READ MORE: Cases from Oxford Magistrates' Court

The pickets - mothers, local residents and feminist group members - started assembling outside the shop shortly before it opened and said they planned to continue the picket for months if necessary until the shop moves out.

Protests continued the following year.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
  • Advert-light access 
  • Reader rewards 
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.