SALES of the infamous gollies are better than ever at a Bromyard shop that has found its feet after a police raid this time last year.

Donald Reynolds, owner of Pettifer's store in the High Street, said there is still a buzz in town about the national media interest exactly 12 months ago.

As the Worcester News reported at the time, police raided the store and seized three gollies from the shop window after a customer complained.

It led to crowds of protesters taking to the streets to call for the release of "the Bromyard three" who were being held under section five of the Public Order Act.

Two weeks later, the dolls were safely returned to the shop without any action being taken against the owner.

Mr Reynolds said: "People still talk about it round here. Golly sales have been very good since then. In fact, as soon as the story hit the news, we couldn't supply them quickly enough. Nothing like it has ever happened before. I was glad the police didn't take any action against us. We've had customers from around the world, from places such as the Netherlands to Canada."

The store responded to the police raid by stocking more golly merchandise than usual.

"The golly sales have been so good we brought in more stuff," said Mr Reynolds. "We've got keyrings, handbags and mugs in the store now. Looking back it does seem a bit bizarre, but we have a great relationship with people and we recovered. We did have good publicity from it all. It certainly did put us on the map. I couldn't possibly afford the amount of publicity we had for the store in terms of advertising."

Under section five of the Public Order Act, the police can remove any items on display that may lead to harm, harassment or distress. Gollies are caricatures of black-faced minstrels and were second only to teddy bears in popularity in the first half of the 20th century.

They used to be known as golliwogs, but the name has become associated with a racial slur and has been discarded.