An extensive investigation by Vision has revealed York’s shameful secret: a lucrative prostitution industry thriving off STUDENTS’ money.
Witnesses have given exclusive evidence and accounts of the brothels running amidst student communities in the city.
York students are paying up to £120 an hour in one particularly notorious den. Sources say that the seedy brothel is hidden away above a local shop near student houses.
“My mate paid about 50 or 60 pounds to go (for half an hour),” said one source.
He claimed: “A lot of students have been using it since the start of this term. Several people from other universities even went along as well when they were visiting York.”
Indications show there may be as many as four or five brothels within a small area of student housing. It is unclear whether the business owners are specifically targeting student residents.
One nearby resident who spoke to Vision on the assurance of anonymity claimed: “It’s disgusting to think this is going on so nearby. The type of characters the place attracts can make the neighbourhood very uncomfortable at times.”
The reports come a year after a brothel was uncovered on Heslington Road, a popular student residential area. A female student in the area was approached by a man looking for the nearby sex den.
Prostitution has been a major problem effecting York’s students for several years. In 2006 Vision exposed a brothel after two undercover reporters handed over secret tape recordings to North Yorkshire Police.
In a survey for Vision, a shocking 20% of male students admitted to having either used a prostitute themselves or having friends who had.
YUSU Welfare Officer Ben Humphrys has responded to the reports by stating: “Buying sex for money is both illegal and deeply immoral: students who engage in this kind of exploitation should be keenly aware that they are treading on the wrong side of the law.”
“I urge anyone with information about these brothels to report it to the police as soon as possible,” he added.
UK law on brothels is complex and has been heavily modified since the initial ban on running them in 1956. The act of prostitution is not illegal itself, but a series of laws criminalises many activities in relation to it.
If you have any information about brothels in York, you are encouraged to contact North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247.
The title claims there is an element of shame to this story, but whose shame is it? I don’t imagine the students concerned are ashamed, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Is it Vision that’s deciding it’s shameful, socially? It’s hardly objective, is it? I would have thought comment about stories should be passed in the Comment section, or are you going for the Sun method of wildly exaggerating and scandalously moralising?
Colm, it is illegal to pay for a brothel, so in that sense it is really quite objective. There is a difference between “scanalously moralising” and suggesting that doing illegal acts like using brothels is not a very good thing – hence why there are laws against it.
Prostitution is hardly something people go around boasting about, not least because it is illegal. Stop picking holes “Colm”. Its petty.
Colm are you a brothel user? if theres nothing to be ashamed about then just admit to it. be true to yourself!
Sorry, I’m a little confused.
Is the story is that an anonymous person has said that their anonymous friend went to a brothel at an undisclosed location? Or is it that a survey of an unknown number of people using unknown methodology found that 20% or male students claim to have used prostitutes or know someone who did?
Either way the odd fact here and there wouldn’t go amiss.
Confused, the location of the brothels cannot be printed for legal reasons. It is also illegal to name sources if they have requested to remain anonymous.
Of course the locations of the brothels can be printed. What on Earth are you worried about? Defaming the madam who runs it? My guess is that Vision doesn’t have even the vaguest idea where these brothels are, or if they even exist.
Nor, by the way, is it illegal to name sources who request anonymity. Journalistic bad practice, yes. Illegal, no.
Anon,
The police told us it would be illegal.
Not really going to argue with that.
Colm, it is illegal to pay for a brothel, so in that sense it is really quite objective. There is a difference between “scanalously moralising” and suggesting that doing illegal acts like using brothels is not a very good thing – hence why there are laws against it.
Of course the locations of the brothels can be printed. What on Earth are you worried about? Defaming the madam who runs it? My guess is that Vision doesn’t have even the vaguest idea where these brothels are, or if they even exist.
Nor, by the way, is it illegal to name sources who request anonymity. Journalistic bad practice, yes. Illegal, no.
You seem to have copied and pasted “Confused”‘s post….
It is not just the brothels that students need to be careful of but also the bars. The Evil Eye Bar is a well known haunt of students but is also a haunt of Yorks prostitutes. Go in any night and you will see the same females sat at the bar but be warned if you take a fancy to one of these females you may get more than you expect as one of these is infected with HIV. It is not hard to pick out the prostitutes,they are the females who sit at the bar on there own but take a fancy to young men. My advice to any male students visiting the Evil Eye Bar is to avoid any contact with any female sat at the bar or who comes over to you and strikes up a conversation. I should also add that one of these female is at the end of her working life being in her mid thirties and being HIV the only trade she can get is drunk young students.you have been warned.