Clown craze is a talking point for party shop

Despite some pranksters using clown costumes to frighten the public, a ‘trend’ which started in the USA back in August, the town’s party shop has not seen a drop in sales.

The Lake Street store sells clown outfits, wigs, noses and make-up, and the weird goings on have been a talking point for staff and shoppers.

Manager of Perfect Parties, Andy Culling, said: “It’s a little too early to tell whether it has affected sales, as the last two weeks of October sees the rush in buying Hallowe’en outfits, but there seems to have been little difference.

“It’s been a funny talking point amongst customers, though. We’ve heard people saying, ‘I don’t want to put a clown costume on - I’ll get arrested’. One woman even joked that she wanted to dress her son as a clown, so the police would put him in prison!”

Thankfully, Andy hasn’t seen any creepy clown sightings around LBO land and hopes that customers will venture out of their houses to buy some Hallowe’en goodies.

He said: “We’ve got the biggest range of costumes to try and we can supply toddlers to OAPS! You can scare yourself and other people - we even sell creepy coloured contact lenses!”

The first ‘clown sighting’ occurred in Canada, when two teenagers intimidated children in a local park. The craze has spread to this country, with incidents reported in Bedford and Luton last week.