One of the maids at the walk up stated "The police have completely changed, they've dragged customers naked out of bed, searched the flat – the girls are scared, they are not criminals. As far as I have understood one girl and one maid is not illegal, it's not a brothel."
The police were putting pressure on the property owner Soho Estates to evict the sex workers. Sex workers in Peter Street near Walker's Court have been told they will be evicted in January. The police closed 61 Dean Street, and more recently all 3 walk ups in Lisle Street, and failed. However, putting pressure on the property owner to evict sex workers might well succeed where other methods have failed in the past.
When sex worker Lizzie Valad was evicted from her flat she started working at King's Cross and ended up being murdered by Camden Ripper Anthony Hardy. The walk ups in Soho are safe places for women to work. Sex workers will be at greater risk of violence if they are evicted.
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| protest in Soho yesterday outside the offices of Soho Estates |
you have ideea who was the girl in the video? romanian girl??
ReplyDeleteYes, who was the working lady in the video, please? I am fucking furious at the government and also the police. NO conscience whatsoever. I would not be surprised at all if the lady working there is found dead soon from working on the street. At least it might make people think again next time they want to criminalise or evict sex workers.
ReplyDeletep.s. Thanks again for all your great blogs. You are an awesome guy and we should definitely meet up one day for a coffee in Soho :)
I think she said in the video that she's Romanian. The only Romanian working at 26 Romilly Street was Candy. All the others were non-European. Alena left a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeletewhich ethinic girl is most co-operative ? romanian ? non-european ? Thailand ? .....
ReplyDeleteThink what will happen is in five years time all the Soho walk ups will be closed down and redevelop into office and bars. Then the strip clubs will be next then Soho will become known as a Gay Coummunity. Then after 20 years all that will be closed down and redevelop into flats, office and shops. What you all reckon?
ReplyDeleteHi thought i might insteret you by giving you the website of a American traveler blogger that been to Thailand and he wrote about why sex industry is not black and white as you think it is. The website is http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-sex-tourism-in-thailand-is-not-as-black-and-white-as-you-think/
ReplyDeleteP.S if you can't get through then do google search on why sex industry in thaialnd is not black and white as you think it is.
RIP Soho... it's about corporations squashing the independents... get rid of the walk ups to make way for starbucks and sainsburys local. Once they have squashed the hookers they will attack the gays and when they are gone they will find a way to get rid of the chinese... its very sad.
ReplyDeleteDid the police really drag punters out of bed naked?
On the subject of street walkers in the east end... I used to see them on Commercial Street which runs parallel to brick lane... but i've not been down there for a few years. They would come out quite early, sometimes at the top on the left or more often further down on the other side by the market. They all looked grim though, crack heads and smack heads, sometimes pimps hanging round as well.
There is a theory that the police aren't really interested in stopping prostitution, it's money laundering that they want to stop. It seems there are companies which rent these flats from Soho Estates. The flats are sub-let and maybe sub-sub-let to the sex workers at something like £280 per day. In between money gets laundered.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the flats could be directly let to sex workers or sold to them. Better than evicting them where some of them will end up as street girls where they will be vulnerable.