Wearing thick-lensed glasses and a tweed flat cap, George McCoy picks me up at 9. He has the oppressively loud voice of a horse-racing commentator. Before she died, she divorced me and took all the money she could.
I'd used prostitutes before when travelling with work, and decided to make my hobby into a business. Born in in Malvern to two Cambridge physics graduates, George has always been entrepreneurial. By , he'd lost it all. And so began his next crusade: to deliver the first comprehensive guidebooks to the UK's brothels, ranking prostitutes on a five-star scale, listing specialisms, working hours and charging policies, and inciting the fury of people who don't want to see human beings rated for how good they are at blowjobs.
I know of a former foreign secretary who enjoys dressing up in women's clothing and having his bottom smacked. I know of another who just went for regular sex with lots of different women. In the UK, selling your body for sex isn't a crime, but soliciting in public is. Working in a brothel isn't illegal, but running a brothel is. For customers, soliciting someone for their sexual services is illegal in public, but fine in private.
Therefore, George isn't technically committing a crime — and besides, he doesn't have to actually buy the sex; because he's reviewing, he usually gets it for free. If you think, 'Dunno why I bothered,' that would get one star. They generally do their best because they know who I am. At It's set within an office block, neighbouring a number of totally unsuspecting businesses.
George tells me the landlords know and are happy to maintain the brothel on the premises, as long as there's no "funny business". Bentley's has been established for over 25 years and is officially licensed as a sauna. It's open seven days a week, employs six women and averages 10 to 13 clients a day. Sean Paul is playing on the radio as we walk in. Bentley's is light and clean but has the kind of musty smell that makes you inhale a little lighter than normal.
