WITTY record shop boss Haydn Pugh tried drumming up extra trade by describing his goods as ’legal highs’ and fooled police who tore down his poster.

The owner of Haystacks record and bookshop in Hay-on-Wye displays a poster at the entrance to his shop featuring a vinyl disc, a CD and a book in a clear bag underneath the words ’Legal highs sold here’.

But Dyfed-Powys Police failed to get the joke and a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) ripped the poster off the wall and burst into the shop believing recently banned chemicals known as ’legal highs’ were being advertised for sale.

Mr Pugh said he put the poster up around 18 months ago to attract the attention of passing shoppers. Legal highs, or synthetic drugs, have been at the centre of media attention in the UK in recent years.

A blanket ban on the sale of legal highs came into force at the end of May.

Mr Pugh said: "A PCSO came and ripped the sign down and said ’legal highs were banned a couple of days ago at midnight’.

"She hadn’t even stopped to look at it, she came in all guns blazing. There were at least half a dozen people in here and it was a bit embarrassing.

"I told here I sell books, records and CDs and told her to go and look at the artwork it’s self explanatory.

"The guy who was with her said ’I can see where you’re coming from’. It is promoting the shop in a subliminal way.

"The CD in the poster has ’Purple Hays’ written on it, it’s a play on words of Jimi Hendrix ’Purple Haze’. I sell them in a clear plastic bag.

"I said to her ’why can’t I sell them? You need to have a look at the poster.’ It is down to interpretation.

"I can see where the police are coming from in a way but there was no need to come in all guns blazing.

"She put the sign back up and that was the end of it but her attitude was all wrong.

"I could hear the male PCSO on his radio he was saying ’we’re at the record shop, it’s not what we thought it was’."

Mr Pugh said the police visited his shop in Backfold, underneath Hay Castle, during the Hay Festival week, probably on the Thursday.

"I didn’t know the PCSO, I think she was from Llandrindod. The local PCSO came in and said ’I didn’t think you would be doing that’."

Mr Pugh, who said he wouldn’t be making an official complaint to the police, said he had once been approached by someone who asked whether he would be willing to sell the then legal chemical substances.

"Someone asked if I would be willing to sell legal highs but they knew within a minute the answer was no. Cider and barley wine is enough for me.

"I don’t do drugs and never have done. The music takes you other places.

"I remember the 60s well and saw Hendrix on television in black and white when I was 14. He was into the drugs but it was the music that did it for me."

Mr Pugh said independent high street shops need to be inventive in their marketing. He has been trading for around five years but said he has decorated his shop to make it appear older

He said: "I painted the shop purple to make it look like we’ve been here 30 years, you’ve got to put your own spin on it.

"We are competing with online and the big supermarkets, we’ve got to promote ourselves.

"The PCSO got the message that she wanted to receive."

A spokeswoman for Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed it had attended at the shop.

She said: "A Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) attempted to remove a poster containing the words ‘legal high’ in a local shop.

"After receiving clarification that it did not refer to the sale of the now illegal drugs under the new Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, the poster was left in place."