After two weeks Vice Squad was back on Five last night. There was more about Soho walk ups. As with last week there was something about kerb crawlers in east London (probably Whitechapel) but I had no particular interest in that. Although this blog started and continues with the issue of street girls, I have no experience of the world of kerb crawling. I don't have a car.
A Soho bobby on the beat told us that men are often mugged on the stairs of Soho walk ups. I have never had this experience but then I don't go to Soho at night. He explained that there are about 100 women in walk up flats in Soho. There are about 50 flats. Each doorway usually leads to two flats on upper floors.
Two of the prostitutes and their maids were interviewed. Both of the prostitutes were from Albania. I did not recognize either of them. Gina said she came to London with the assistance of her friend who was a prostitute. She did different jobs to begin with, but decided to become a prostitute because London is such an expensive city to live in.
She said that she has about 25 customers per day and makes between £200 and £300 a day. I assume this is after she has paid rent on the flat and other overheads. Each customer pays a minimum of £20. Her maid Rita explained her role, which includes protecting the girl from any possible violence.
The other prostitute, Samantha, said that for her it's just work, she has a family to support and bills to pay. Her maid Janet said that women in walk ups work for themselves, there are no pimps. They look after themselves and there are no drugs. They are doing it to make their lives better.
The narrator explained that the days of Soho walk ups could be numbered. There is new legislation that could ban them. One of the women said that this would put them on the streets where they would be less safe. In the walk ups they are protected.
I agree that it would be a tragedy if the Soho walk ups were all closed. I am not saying this because I like to go to them. Many women will be harmed if the new legislation goes ahead.
I have started a Yahoo group for readers of this blog if they wish to discuss issues and share information. People can still leave comments on each post if they wish, but I will reply to comments on the group. The blog is about the less expensive forms of prostitution, which could be Soho walk ups or could be street girls. I have called the group Punternot because I want people to be free to discuss issues that would not be allowed on the Punternet forum, such as street girls, but also things like your favourite internet porn site. The Punternet site abhor the desire of Harriet Harman to censor it, but they do censor many people's views. I will not censor sincerely-held views but I will moderate out any snarking.
This is the URL of the group. You will need to create a Yahoo identity if you don't already have one.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/punternot/