AN Exmouth pub, which welcomes children and families, has praised the Journal for highlighting claims its toilets are being used as a men's meeting place for sex.

AN Exmouth pub, which welcomes children and families, has praised the Journal for highlighting claims its toilets are being used as a men's meeting place for sex.Two men using toilets in the Powder Monkey, in The Strand, claim they walked into 'a sex den' during a Saturday night out drinking with friends.JD Wetherspoon, which owns the Powder Monkey, said it was unaware of claims the toilets were being used for 'cottaging' - where men meet anonymously for sex.A Powder Monkey spokesman said the toilets were regularly monitored and the pub worked hard to maintain high standards at all times.The spokesman said: "It's nothing we are aware of. It could be correct, or it could be a complete falsehood."If two people have gone to the paper, we have to assume it's correct. "If it's correct, the only people who have made us aware is the local paper - and we appreciate it."It's not something we want to be going on and we will do our best, as always, to make sure the pub is well monitored. But, if a person is in the cubicle, there's nothing we can do. It's not one of those things anyone is able to prevent."A 26-year-old Victoria Road man claims he and his 22-year-old Ottery St Mary friend were left in no doubt as to the actions of four men who were loitering in the pub toilets and in the cubicles.The pair claims they saw at least one man entering an already engaged cubicle and locking the door behind him. He said: "I have used those toilets hundreds of time before and never walked into an atmosphere like that. There was something weird going on - it was sexual."The Ottery St Mary man said: "I was using the urinal and noticed a guy hanging around outside the toilet cubicles. He knocked on the door - it was un-locked from the inside and he went in. Both cubicles were engaged - if you know what I mean. "I've never seen anything like that before - especially not in a Wetherspoons. It's a family pub and it wasn't even that late in the evening." An Exmouth police spokesman said men caught having sex in a public place could be prosecuted under the common law offence of outraging public decency.