I recently found a link on another Ukpunting thread to a very old - well, It started Mary Millington! - video, presumably from the 1970s. She was apparently working in the German equivalent of a Parlour and the 2 young lads who saw her were shown pricing up her services from a kind of menu and then paying after they'd seen her.
As one who punting career didn't start until 2004, I found that incredible! When I started visiting Parlours on Whitefield & Prestwich's 'punting mile', I know that if I didn't pay upfront, none of the girls would have seen me; simple as!
Perhaps HP, or someone else who's had as long a punting career could enlighten us; were things ever so relaxed way back when?