Up with the big boys in sales of condoms

9:47am Friday 5th August 2005

RAMPANT lovers have helped High Wycombe's Asda supermarket come fourth best in condom sales out of 280 stores nationwide.

The branch, in Holmers Farm Way, shifts around 700 packets of six every week, which is the equivalent of more than 250,000 single condoms every year.

An Asda spokesman said: "When it comes to condom capitals, High Wycombe is in the top five best selling stores in the whole of the UK."

The food retailer's sales analysis computer Retail Link, which is capable of tracking sales of individual items by store every 15 minutes, revealed its Bridge of Dee store, in Aberdeen, sold more condoms per square foot than any other.

Hot on its heels were outlets along the M4 corridor with Swindon, Lower Earley and High Wycombe next in line.

Bottom of the pile, and the town seemingly least bothered about taking precautions, was Altrincham, in Cheshire.

This latest research comes as Government statistics reveal a rise in sexually transmitted infections including an eight per cent rise in chlamydia over the past year.

Asda bosses say in an effort to stem the increase, they are "rolling back the price of condoms".

Tony Page, the company's non-food director, said: "Who said free loving was a thing of the past? With our summer of love deal on condoms there is now no excuse not to be protected."

Last year, the Government announced £300m would be invested in England over the next three years to combat the growing problem of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Genito Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinics will receive £130m to modernise services with another £40m to improve prevention through the use of contraceptives.

Condoms have been around from as early as 1000 BCE with the ancient Egyptians using a linen sheath for protection while the Chinese are known to have used oiled silk paper.

However, the oldest condoms ever found date back to 1640 and were excavated near Birming-ham. They were made of fish and animal intestine.

The mass-production of "rubbers" began after 1844 and the invention of vulcanization, a process that turns crude rubber into strong elastic.

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