Shops in your locality that are "fronts for something else"

[Pogue Mahone]

Hmmm. That's a particularly common urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/semen.asp

Ah, maybe I was had. And to think it was my mother told me this ...

[Small Man Big Horse]

My sister got a verbal warning for putting an egg on her shoulder for five minutes before serving it up in one of McDonald's oddly tasty bacon and egg McMuffins. It was the result of a stupid bet, which they used to do all the time when bored. She was never involved in any jizz related malarky though.

I've always been suspicious of the internet cafe's which only have about 7 PC's in them, surely they must be a front for something, at £1 an hour even if they were in use 24 hours a day that's only an income of about a grand a week, and most of the time they're half empty anyway.

[My Giddy Aunt]

Well he fast food "Charcoal Grill" was reccently raided and found many Turkish immigrants living and working in the back, and that it was part of a ring.

Then there's "Diamonds" on the way into Bristol. A Massage parlour, but that doesn't even try to hide the fact that more goes on there

Is that Charcoal Grill in Bristol, and if so which one!?

Bristol is full of massage parlours that dont even slightly pretend, is that the same everywhere? I always figured it was a council policy to keep it off the streets, there's not much of a curb crawling problem as far a im aware in the city anyway.

(as an aside my favourite shop i spotted in Middlesbrough the other day, a haridressers called 'Curl up and Dye'. Very apt for the location.)

[The Region Legion]

There's a car dealership in Epsom that was called Romans until quite recently that has never once had a car in or around it, the blinds are always closed and I've never seen anyone go in or out. It changed its name but it's still an empty car dealership, and it's been there for at least the last 5 years, and quite possibly longer than that.

Before I leave town this month I may go knock on the door and ask them what they have in stock. I'll let you all know how it goes (or not).

[Don_Preston]

Is that Charcoal Grill in Bristol, and if so which one!?

No its the now-barred up one in the Midsomer Norton High Street. I wasnt aware that there were a chain of them. Have you ever been to/seen Diamonds on the Brislington Rd into Temple Meads, its the seediest looking dive. You can only tell if its open if the window's ajar

[TotalMink]

Haha, this must surely be the Hutcheon Street shop you're talking about, just off George Street (?). I can't remember it's true name but everyone I know refers to it simply as "The Dodgy Shop". You have to count your change carefully and keep your wits about you in there, especially after midnight. Supposedly you can buy some nasty illegal porn under the counter in addition to the stuff lining the shelves. I've also heard it said that the tinker family who run the place packed their daughter off to work in the sex industry in Eastern Europe at a young age. There's probably no truth to that, but the young son had certainly been working behind the counter so long he was like a character from Open All Hours by the time he hit his teens. I doubt he'd ever been to school, and it was strange to see a kid with such as grown up manner.

Your description makes it sound bigger than it actually is, Paranormalhandy (though it has been through some changes over the years), so if it's not the same shop you were in just count yourself lucky

This shop is legendary.  It used to sell poppers and was open in the wee small hours.  People used to go there before or after a night at the pelican or joy and stock up on liquid gold or tnt.  Happy Days

[duckorange]

We used to have a run-down shop near us called "The Catalogue Shop", which was supposedly where you could buy bankrupt stock from catalogues etc.

Total stock: one table.

It became well known as the place where you could cash in hooky goods for drugs. Such an open secret that the place was raided and closed down.

The shop is empty, except for the table and a million copies of the local freesheet newspaper.

[king mob]

Bristol is full of massage parlours that dont even slightly pretend, is that the same everywhere? I always figured it was a council policy to keep it off the streets, there's not much of a curb crawling problem as far a im aware in the city anyway.

There's a huge kerb crawling problem in St. Pauls & Easton, but City Centre Sauna is a legendary place. The patrons use the back entrance (ooo err) to avoid being seen but seeing as there's a pub nearby, (The Bell) you can often see punters sneak inside as you nip to the pub. A mate actually got 'treated' to a session at City Centre Sauna for his 18th birthday and failed to perform as he was just far too pissed and stoned, so settled for a nice handjob.

You'll still see similiar places across the UK, I think there's still one near the bus station in Nottingham for example.

The dosgiest shop in that part of Bristol has to be Slix, a fried chicken place where all the staff seem to drive Mercedes CLK's and S Class. Now there's either a lot of money in ropey fried chicken or those people wandering in, not buying any food and walking out after handing cash over for small packages are just kindly souls keeping a local buisness going.

(as an aside my favourite shop i spotted in Middlesbrough the other day, a haridressers called 'Curl up and Dye'. Very apt for the location.)

There used to be a Chinese takeaway in glasgow called 'Mings' which shows a complete lack of knowledge of local slang.