A vicar has begun a campaign to oust an Ann Summers sex shop from a quintessential English country town.
The Rev John Banner is urging Christians in Tunbridge Wells to rally behind his crusade to banish the lingerie store.
The shop is due to open in the quiet Kent town next month.
But Rev Banner says the chain is another example of the “degradation” of marriage.
“There has been too much degradation of the quiet, private area of sexual relationships between married men and women and the beautiful and wonderful spirit that marriage can give,” he said.
“Marriage has become a joke. People get married at the bottom of swimming pools or jumping out of aeroplanes but it is a solemn matter – you are making promises for life, not until the next person you fancy comes along.”
He added: “I suspect that I am not the only one who feels this way.”
The vicar has previously run campaigns against pole dancing clubs and a sex shop in the town.
However, a spokeswoman for Ann Summers said the opening of the latest shop in the lingerie chain, which has 122 stores across the country, was proof of changing attitudes among the public.
She said: “We are not a sex shop but we do have an array of bedroom accessories such as handcuffs – they are standard products that come from Ann Summers – but we are predominantly a lingerie retailer.”