Are brothels now legal in the UK?

This place has been operating quite openly for about three years. It has been possible to sit in the restaurant opposite and see both provider and client come and go. Why has it taken the police so long to getting round to stage a raid?

Meanwhile Cuddles, mentioned in the report, has now been reopened under a new name. There is no indication that there has been a radical change in the services on offer.

Another brothel on the "high street" (I am being careful not to feed the imagination of the search engines as I don't want hoards of lonely losers wandering around the neighbourhood) has been operating for about six years.

The place had its own entry on a website called punternet together with graphic "customer reviews" - this was pointed out by another local blogger, I didn't search for the material. There is absolutely no doubt what happens there. The reviews make it clear that there is more than one woman working on the premises giving the precise legal definition of a brothel rather than a lone prostitute.

If we are going to have legalised brothels in this country - and having met girls though our churchwork who have been operating on the streets there may be a case for legalisation - we should have it out in the open following the consultations and discussions that proceed regulation.

In the meantime, if brothels are illegal and the women working from them open to abuse, then there should be no question of there being a discreet policy of turning a blind eye which seems to be the case at present.

If the police have difficulty collecting evidence they can simply go to the punternet type websites or the odious mcgoys site whose proprietor I had the misfortune to meet when we were both pursuing very different, but considerably more socially useful, occupations. They will find enough material there to secure plenty of convictions.