Some good points have been made. I pretty much only started visiting Sandy's in it's final few months (which I think is a big shame). I had some good punts but I also had a negative (which I reviewed) and a number of average/neutral punts (which I should've reviewed but didn't although I think I did comment about most of them) which included well rated girls such as Imogen, Abbie and Roxie.
I don't feel fully qualified to say but I'm sure it was the best parlour (both in terms of service and particularly looks) in the North West, even in it's last days but to be honest that's not really saying much. There is a fairly high number of competitors but even the best of them aren't that great, certainly overall.
I think at its peak, it probably was the best parlour around with probably only WFB being it's main competition.
I think a lot was to do with right time/right place if you like, rising popularity with the internet (it would be how a lot of us found out about it) prior to that it would probably have been an ad in the MEN a fast website made a big difference (in the days of dial-up it was my go-to page to check internet connection, if Sandy's page didn't open you knew it was a connection fault)
Traditionally parlours (being an illegal business) were always reluctant to invest money in the premises, Sandy's were one of the exceptions and invested money back in the business which was obvious to see, the style and layout of waiting areas didn't suit some punters but on the whole it was a good set up.
I'm not sure what it was like in the last couple of years (didn't visit) but there were some "superstars" there over the years, although a couple I booked with in the early days who had loads of positive reviews (would be p/net) yet I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about, others like Patrice you'd struggle to get bookings.
I do wonder how much of the openness, good detailed website etc etc might have contributed to it's downfall after all it was still an illegal business, it would be difficult to dispute possible income etc when it was all advertised