A business centre located in a residential area near a primary school has found itself as the unlikely venue for a porn studio - much to the dismay of neighbouring office workers.
People working in the Hertfordshire Business Centre, London Colney, which is located near London Colney Primary School, have had to endure months of ‘sex noises’ since live sex show company iBabe. TV moved into the premises in April this year.
Near-naked porn stars come and go from the studio and people working for businesses in neighbouring units have heard it all.
Katherine Jessop, who works in one of the units, told the Herts Advertiser: “You can often hear both the model and their callers; it’s as if they take calls on loud speaker and it literally sounds like full-on action is going on.”
Katherine said that it had made the company she worked for appear unprofessional at times. She described one particularly embarrassing incident: “One of our visitors went to the communal toilets and a lady was in there rather scantily clad doing her make-up presumably in preparation for appearing on TV.
“Our visitor was very shocked and it took some explaining on our part.”
Katherine added that the constant noises had been distracting and she was concerned about the reputation of the building, where she estimates about 30 businesses are based.
But from Friday (30), in response to numerous complaints, iBabe. TV was told to leave the premises by the business centre’s landlords.
The porn company’s managing director Bradley Kellard told the Herts Advertiser that he was very disappointed by the news and that it might even mean a loss of jobs for local people as they would have to re-locate to a temporary office in London.
He said: “Some of our models and most of our production, tech and marketing staff are local and may not be able to travel to our new location, so this could potentially result in job losses too.”
Bradley added that he really liked the convenience of London Colney and would not rule out moving to other premises in the area in the future.
He went on: “We’re trying to run a business just like everyone else, it just so happens that ours is in the adult industry.
“It’s 2016, people should be a little more open-minded. We have tried to be very discreet and we don’t publicise where we are and what we do.
“We try to keep it private. We have tried to keep the location private for the models’ safety as well.”
He said that the company had tried its best to keep the noise down and that the whole building had issues with noise travelling, not just their unit.
Bradley maintained that the people responsible for the building were in the process of sound-proofing other units at the time they were asked to vacate.
He also mentioned that not all staff working in the centre were acting in a professional way, with some of them waiting outside the studios to speak to the models. He said a few even pretended to accidentally walk into the studio to catch a glimpse of the girls in action.
He added: “It’s a shame [we have to leave], we were quite happy being based here in London Colney.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here