London

With working flats it’s different; we respect each other, look after each other, the flats are clean, and we have a good relationship with the police. That Harriet Harman woman minister, she came round with our local policeman a while back. She was a bit shitty at first, because she thought we were a clip-joint, which is unlicensed. She said: ‘See? This is where these prostitutes on the streets come.’ And the policeman said ‘they’re not on the streets, they’re in here all day. You won’t see these girls.’ She was alright after that. We explained to her the difference between a working flat and the clip-joints that we want the council to close down.

If you go down the other end of Soho, Brewer Street or Walkers Court, that’s where you’ll see the clip-joints. The girls stand outside half-naked, freezing, saying, ‘just £5, come inside.’ The guy goes in there and he’s handed a drink that’ll cost him £300. That’s why the girl was murdered the other year. This customer came back and stabbed her straight through the heart – that was in Walkers Court, a black girl.
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I think it’s a good idea to legalise prostitution so you could protect the girls better. I wouldn’t mind paying taxes, though I wouldn’t tell them how much I really earn. I make good money, but I work twelve hour days, six days a week. I get a bit of what the girls earn. It’s all done on time. Prices start at £20, that’s for ten minutes straight sex, him on top, and it goes up to a hundred and twenty for an hour. Extras cost more. Poppers are a fiver on top, a sixty-niner is thirty-five. Some girls do A Levels – that’s anal – or watersports, when you wee on them. You’d be surprised the number of business men who like that. Everything’s with a condom and there’s no kissing.

The first thing the girls have to do is cover the rent, which includes the TV license, bills and the maid’s wages. Whatever they make on top of that is take home. I’m in charge of the rent. I was maiding round the corner when I got the offer of this flat. These flats are like gold dust, this has been a working flat for over 40 years, and you have to be in the know, because nothing’s done on paper, everything’s by shake of hand. Same with the girls; it’s all word of mouth. They know where to come knocking, asking if there’s any work. I don’t take girls who don’t know, I won’t teach them the trade, I wouldn’t want the responsibility. The only thing I teach them is the dominatrix stuff, because most of them find that difficult.

That's why it makes me laugh when people ask if the men are rough with the girls. Truth is, most guys like being dominated: tied up, beaten, pissed on. We’ve got one customer who likes us to laugh at his little willy. He gets it out and you have to put on a pair of glasses and look for it. Men are supposed to be all macho in the bedroom and the fantasy they live out in here is about submission. We’ll always be around because single guys will want to get laid, and there’s the guys that are bordering on paedophilia who don’t want to break the law, and there’ll be the guys whose wives won’t tie them up or give them a blowjob. And it’s like I say, you can’t eat bacon every day, men need a bit of variety.

It is seasonal. They come in when it rains. They come in when it’s cold. The beginning of the month is busy, because of pay day. And it gets awful quiet during Ramadan. Fifty percent of our custom I’d say goes in the first week of Ramadan, but by the third week it’s back to normal.

I’m not embarrassed about what I do, I like dispelling the myths. People who expect us to be common as muck, the girls on drugs, the maids with fags hanging out of their mouths, have been watching too much telly. It’s much less glamorous and far more friendly than you’d imagine. I run a good, clean business, and I’m proud of it.