Why has the Manchester scene changed so much?

[marcius2018]

Why has the scene in Manchester, which seemed so vibrant about 20 years ago, changed so much: far fewer parlours, less exciting parlours, fewer "characters" etc....or is it just me?

[george r]

The parlour scene started to go downhill fast when WFB swinton got raided  then the Bury branch 
a lot of the girls moved to SS and we all know what happened there..
most of the other parlours are cheap n cheerful or shitholes ..

[NW_Guy]

TBH I think, like many other sectors (retail, hotels, cars), it’s gone from a bricks and mortar presence on the high street (Or back street) to an online community.

Years ago in the 80s I worked in the West of England and there were parlours galore, The Sun / News of the World directories but absolutely loads and loads of street girls. There weren’t the EE imports of today. A girl just needs a room, a postcode and a laptop to work these days.

Back then they would need some sleazy bloke in the know to get them on the ladder. A lot has changed, some for the better, but not all.  There is much less stigma about prostitution these days and sex / porn isn’t hidden away like it once was.

NWG

[Moby Dick]

T’internet

[SmoothieNeil]

Certainly the Greater Manchester area has altered a lot.

Wigan used to have a couple of good places near the train station and near what used to be the bakery, i think both have gone now but loved popping in and had some times.

Bolton supplied some fun times for me with that one down St Georges Road, forgot the name but had a branch in Bury with the same name, may have been grotty but sometimes you did get some nice girls, i remember one called Adele who was really nice plus sucked without for free!

Miss those days a lot

[tesla]

Certainly the Greater Manchester area has altered a lot.

Wigan used to have a couple of good places near the train station and near what used to be the bakery, i think both have gone now but loved popping in and had some times.

Bolton supplied some fun times for me with that one down St Georges Road, forgot the name but had a branch in Bury with the same name, may have been grotty but sometimes you did get some nice girls, i remember one called Adele who was really nice plus sucked without for free!

Miss those days a lot

You miss Arabesque?

[Chris1990mcr]

Girls can set up an only fans send a few pics and make the same money without shagging anyone now a days.
Parlours just aren’t there any more in the same way.

[chrishornx]

T’internet

+1

like Amazon it cuts out the middle man and makes the girl more dosh and gives them far more flexibility on working hours etc

plus we can see photos, reviews and rates rather than having to ring The Toucan or WFB and ask who was working and taking risky punts with new girls who could be crackers or a Cueball cage girl

[dubs]

I think the north west based forum is dead now. It used to be busy with a chat room and loads of posts from girls and punters but I’ve not been there in months and I couldn’t even login last time I tried.

The one good thing about it that Ukp doesn’t have was the regular adverts for parlours and agencies. Without those we now have to look at each website and look here for news.

[Doc Holliday]

T’internet

In fact the internet caused huge growth for the parlours in the North West between 2003 to 2006. This corresponded with the advent of regional punting forums also.

However as things evolved and in particular Adultwork grew, the balance was shifting by the end of the decade and has continued to do so. This together with some police closures as mentioned above has meant the golden era of the parlour has gone probably never to return. There has also instead been a considerable growth in FBSM services.

[MaxHamburg]

In fact the internet caused huge growth for the parlours in the North West between 2003 to 2006. This corresponded with the advent of regional punting forums also.

However as things evolved and in particular Adultwork grew, the balance was shifting by the end of the decade and has continued to do so. This together with some police closures as mentioned above has meant the golden era of the parlour has gone probably never to return. There has also instead been a considerable growth in FBSM services.

I think you're spot on, Doc. The landscape is unrecognisable - saying that, I do have a fairly restricted view of the scene, but I have been around a while. So in old fart mode, I'd maybe even go back a little earlier for the start of a decline. I was punting in Manchester quite a bit 1991-95 - I wished I'd kept a copy of the MEN with all the parlour ads - and when driving up and down a country, the Daily Sport was most helpful for the phone numbers of local parlours and providers. Then I lived overseas for some years. I did visit when back, particularly WFB, and I felt the rot had started to set in from around the turn of the millennium. But it was still a pretty good time for the parlour scene if you were into that, and I was. The few indies I'd visited earlier in the mid-90s (through contact mag ads) were generally a bit crap, old and/or rank amateurs, so I was pretty exclusively parlours or known 'indies' working shifts in parlours. It seems to have reversed now. The decline in the parlour scene has sped up in the last 5+ years and with, as you say, more police activity.

[harald hardrada]

You miss Arabesque?

Never went there. Heard it had an appalling reputation.

[Home Alone]

It did. Justifiably.

Quite apart from the condition of some of those girls, the place in Bury seemed to be a death trap. As far as I can remember, the backdoor was blocked so, if there had been a fire, there could have been three or four couples in various states of undress escaping onto Rochdale Road to be seen by the world and his wife!

Those premises are now a bright clean Pharmacy!!

[Home Alone]

I think the north west based forum is dead now. It used to be busy with a chat room and loads of posts from girls and punters but I’ve not been there in months and I couldn’t even login last time I tried.

The one good thing about it that Ukp doesn’t have was the regular adverts for parlours and agencies. Without those we now have to look at each website and look here for news.

In my early days of punting - 2005/6 - there was quite a social scene between Parlour Girls and punters. I recall a series of bi-monthly get-togethers in one or other of the bars at the bottom end of Deansgate on a Saturday night. Some of the more enterprising girls booked into good old Sacha's Hotel so that those of us who fancied an Overnight could have one!

[Doc Holliday]

Those premises are now a bright clean Pharmacy!!

Still drugs on the premises then. 

[lewisjones23]

Still drugs on the premises then. 

probably less now

[Doc Holliday]

probably less now

 

[Home Alone]

Still drugs on the premises then. 

That link had never occurred to me, Doc

[Doc Holliday]

That link had never occurred to me, Doc

Come to think of it there may actually be more condoms on the premises now also 

[SmoothieNeil]

You miss Arabesque?

Yes, only ever went to Bolton but it had a that hint of seediness with some decent girls at times, although shagging a girl with a tag on her leg made for interesting viewing haha!

[tesla]

Yes, only ever went to Bolton but it had a that hint of seediness with some decent girls at times, although shagging a girl with a tag on her leg made for interesting viewing haha!

  sorry but had to laugh at your comment a "hint of seediness",,........... 

yep drugged up ex street girls would provide a hint, along with owners that turned a blind eye to drug use on the premises and would flatly deny it when called out.

then there was the 3 girls that died.........