Porn in the UK before it got legal - remember? - Page 14

pc12 · November 6th, 2017, 02:13 AM

I remember going to the porn shop for the first time and getting home and realizing the mags were all blacked out, i think i didn't keep them long.
But what you could get pretty easy was mail order VHS from Holland in the early 90's.
There were ads in the back of magazines, they sent you a little A5 booklet catalog to order from and they arrived in the mail. I think you had to order 3 at a time, and they arrived separately.

November 6th, 2017, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pc12

I remember going to the porn shop for the first time and getting home and realizing the mags were all blacked out, i think i didn't keep them long.
But what you could get pretty easy was mail order VHS from Holland in the early 90's.
There were ads in the back of magazines, they sent you a little A5 booklet catalog to order from and they arrived in the mail. I think you had to order 3 at a time, and they arrived separately.

Ahh, YourChoice...send money to Amsterdam, and someone would post you the film from within in the UK. A whole host of companies used to do it, go loads of the adverts.

Does anyone have any catalogues for these companies still? From the 1990s or earlier? Desperately searching for some.

MrStockings · November 6th, 2017, 06:02 PM

I had a load of catalogues but dumped them all a while back. I kept a few from around 1993ish for nostalgia's sake. I think customs were pretty wise to them as a company and there were regular raids. I think they used to harvest addresses from the raids and monitor the post as after one raid I ordered a few videos and none arrived, I re-ordered and none arrived, so I complained to Your Choice and they sent a cheque back which was opened by customs and then re-sealed with an 'inspected by customs' sticker on it.

November 8th, 2017, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrStockings

I had a load of catalogues but dumped them all a while back. I kept a few from around 1993ish for nostalgia's sake. I think customs were pretty wise to them as a company and there were regular raids. I think they used to harvest addresses from the raids and monitor the post as after one raid I ordered a few videos and none arrived, I re-ordered and none arrived, so I complained to Your Choice and they sent a cheque back which was opened by customs and then re-sealed with an 'inspected by customs' sticker on it.

Would be willing to the scan the catalogues, please? Would be most grateful!

MrStockings · November 9th, 2017, 07:39 AM

Sure, it might take a while but I'll have a look and see what I've got. I think I kept a few from around 1994ish

royalbros2 · November 11th, 2017, 10:45 AM

I can remember as early as the mid 70s sending my name and address to Sweden and getting a small full colour A7 (?) catalog with some separate full colour inserts. I got these 3 or 4 times a year. They were went in a small airmail envelope. The ones with the red and white bars around the 4 sides if anyone remembers those. Posted from Sweden. Never had anything seized. Never ordered anything (mags and movies were sold), as I had no money, until about 1978 or 79 when I ordered a Color Climax which came through without problem posted abroad and not in the most secure envelope either. Glue on back wouldn't stick (the cheap stuff) so they had just put a small piece of sellotape lol. Did the job I suppose (:

broxyman · November 11th, 2017, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by royalbros2

My apologies for bumping this up once more but I too have something to add. Firstly, I don't think the Albatross cinema in Plashett Grove closed in the early 80s as andysmz says in post 53. I have only been to one xxx cinema in london and I think that was it. The word Plashett sticks in my mind. It was definitely in Upton park area - the only reason I had to go there. And I only came to London in 1986.........

.........So I had no need for the Albatross anyway. I remember going over there one day and it was shut. Likewise, I also went to Liverpool st and that was shut.

That's a fascinating account of the way it was back then - thanks. I remember it well.

Loads of copied cassettes knocking around and you could never be too sure about the quality. It didn't matter too much, I suppose, because the originals were impossible to get hold of in the UK (except at exorbitant prices) and even a fuzzy video of people actually doing real fucking, with real genitalia and real sperm was so incredibly exciting at the time that it did the job. The job of providing something to masturbate to, imagining that you were the one doing it to the Color Climax stars, or whoever, that was what it was all about.

I remember coming back from Soho with these copies, desperate to try them out and see what I'd got - you couldn't always be sure! Masturbating by the video recorder when the wife was out, and eventually fucking her while we watched them - they were a real turn-on then.

The guys in Soho had an enormous selection to choose from, with half back on exchange, like the mags. All of it illegal at the time, and all the more sought after because of that. There were little security stickers they put on the cassettes to make sure you were exchanging one bought from that shop, but some of the shops didn't bother about that and would take anything. Those were the ones with the most dubious quality.

They sold everything, apart I guess from the stuff that's still illegal, and at around £20 a cassette as I recall. Difficult to remember the titles but I do remember one guy banging on about Max Hardcore being the most sought after stuff. I'd never heard of it, or him, at the time, but from what I've seen since it's no great surprise that he got banged up for it.

Holland and Germany was where most of the originals came from, and the guys behind all the shops must have made an absolute fortune out of all the copying.

MrStockings · November 25th, 2017, 07:34 AM

Here is a Your Choice Catalogue from about 1994. At the time it seemed like another world - this stuff was never available in the UK yet over the channel you could get it anywhere. Strange times. I found this catalogue in a bush in a layby near Bristol, sent off an oder for a video, and then the catalogues kept coming.

November 25th, 2017, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrStockings

Here is a Your Choice Catalogue from about 1994. At the time it seemed like another world - this stuff was never available in the UK yet over the channel you could get it anywhere. Strange times. I found this catalogue in a bush in a layby near Bristol, sent off an oder for a video, and then the catalogues kept coming.

Great stuff, thanks so much. Good to see that Mike Freeman's films were being distributed by YourChoice. It didn't last for long, though, as Freeman had a major falling our with the company.

MrStockings · December 20th, 2017, 07:45 AM

The next Your Choice catalog, this one from 1994. Still an A4 sized catalog and quite a lot of content.

November 6th, 2017, 02:13 AM	#131
pc12 Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 14 Thanks: 45 Thanked 134 Times in 14 Posts	I remember going to the porn shop for the first time and getting home and realizing the mags were all blacked out, i think i didn't keep them long. But what you could get pretty easy was mail order VHS from Holland in the early 90's. There were ads in the back of magazines, they sent you a little A5 booklet catalog to order from and they arrived in the mail. I think you had to order 3 at a time, and they arrived separately.

November 6th, 2017, 06:02 PM	#133
MrStockings Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 189 Thanks: 571 Thanked 1,292 Times in 165 Posts	I had a load of catalogues but dumped them all a while back. I kept a few from around 1993ish for nostalgia's sake. I think customs were pretty wise to them as a company and there were regular raids. I think they used to harvest addresses from the raids and monitor the post as after one raid I ordered a few videos and none arrived, I re-ordered and none arrived, so I complained to Your Choice and they sent a cheque back which was opened by customs and then re-sealed with an 'inspected by customs' sticker on it.

November 9th, 2017, 07:39 AM	#135
MrStockings Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 189 Thanks: 571 Thanked 1,292 Times in 165 Posts	Sure, it might take a while but I'll have a look and see what I've got. I think I kept a few from around 1994ish

November 11th, 2017, 10:45 AM	#136
royalbros2 Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 94 Thanks: 2,769 Thanked 1,188 Times in 89 Posts	I can remember as early as the mid 70s sending my name and address to Sweden and getting a small full colour A7 (?) catalog with some separate full colour inserts. I got these 3 or 4 times a year. They were went in a small airmail envelope. The ones with the red and white bars around the 4 sides if anyone remembers those. Posted from Sweden. Never had anything seized. Never ordered anything (mags and movies were sold), as I had no money, until about 1978 or 79 when I ordered a Color Climax which came through without problem posted abroad and not in the most secure envelope either. Glue on back wouldn't stick (the cheap stuff) so they had just put a small piece of sellotape lol. Did the job I suppose (:

November 25th, 2017, 07:34 AM	#138
MrStockings Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 189 Thanks: 571 Thanked 1,292 Times in 165 Posts	Here is a Your Choice Catalogue from about 1994. At the time it seemed like another world - this stuff was never available in the UK yet over the channel you could get it anywhere. Strange times. I found this catalogue in a bush in a layby near Bristol, sent off an oder for a video, and then the catalogues kept coming.

December 20th, 2017, 07:45 AM	#140
MrStockings Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 189 Thanks: 571 Thanked 1,292 Times in 165 Posts	The next Your Choice catalog, this one from 1994. Still an A4 sized catalog and quite a lot of content.