WHAT is a massage parlour really like? And what do the working girls think of their job? Holly and Tia talk to RICHARD YOULE as the Post examines Swansea's sleazy underworld following last week's conviction of Paul Grabham, who murdered his wife Kirsty, an ex-massage parlour worker.

LIKE many young people, Holly went to London to seek her fortune.

She ended up living on the streets and had sex with men in return for milkshakes and burgers.

She was 13 years old.

Holly was from Swansea, but had been put into an all-girls' care home at a young age.

"I went to London to escape the care home, obviously," she says.

"They said the streets were paved with gold," she adds, with irony.

Holly slept in doorways and mixed with rent boys.

Over the next few years she flitted between London and South Wales, became a mum, and got involved in drugs.

She's been in and out of the sex industry all her life, but has given drugs the boot.

Now, more than 30 years after she first left South Wales, Holly is working in a massage parlour in the Swansea Bay area.

"This is the best place I've ever worked," she says. "It's heaven. I have met a new family here.

"There's no bitchiness, and none of the working girls do drugs."

The parlour is on a typical high street, with terraced homes, a couple of pubs and a smattering of shops nearby.

Walk through the sturdy front door and there's a common room where the girls natter, watch TV, have a cup of tea — and wait for clients.

It's a little dingy, but cosy and warm.

Tia, another working girl, is lying on a couch. A football match is on the box, with the volume low. It's Tia's first ever job as a working girl. She's in her mid-30s.

"About two-and-a-half years ago I was a housewife, but me and my ex-partner split up," she says. "I was left with a lot of bills which I couldn't afford to pay.

"It was coming up to Christmas, I have kids, and I just couldn't get a job interview.

"A friend suggested this. It took me a couple of weeks to make the move. But I didn't find it that hard. You just switch off — and switch on."

Around 10 girls work the three shift patterns at the parlour.

They offer a basic service for £35.

Half of this goes to the boss and half to the girls, who also pocket any money from "extras".

There's a back and front entrance for clients, who Tia describes generally as polite, and gentlemen.

Security cameras are fitted in the building. Tia and Holly say trouble is rare.

"On one occasion I said I was going to call security," says Holly. "He was like a mouse after that."

The duo insist they always use protection, and visit the health clinic religiously.

Tia says: "If a condom breaks, you're down the hospital the next day."

But both admit it's something they worry about.

"I think every working girl does," says Holly.

Our conversation is interrupted by a client at the back door. Holly disappears.

Tia, who has a partner, says none of the girls are made to do anything against their will.

They know each other inside out, and look after one another. Outside the parlour, it's different.

"It's very rare you come across working girls who get together out of work," she says.

Often working girls' friends and even loved ones don't know what they do, she adds.

"If my family found out, it doesn't worry me. I think my mother would be all right about it. I am here to support my kids."

Tia pauses. There's someone at the front door. I catch the words "men" and "transvestites".

She returns. It was a man looking for work, she says.

Tia admits she would consider a different massage parlour if the pay was better.

But she says she looks forward to coming to work for the camaraderie.

"We can go to the shops and back, and just leave if there's an emergency at home," she says. "The boss is excellent — she's hard but fair.

"Working here has given me confidence. I know how to handle situations."

Tia wanted to be a nurse when she was younger, but fell pregnant.

"I am thinking of going back to college," she says.

"I've got certain things in the pipeline.

"But I don't think I'll leave this job properly. Some working girls have full-time jobs but can't earn what they get here."

Holly and Tia — not their real names — got the job after a phone interview.

Surely checks are done on a new worker's age?

"A girl started here who looked young," Tia recalls.

"I phoned the boss and said we weren't happy. Then she was asked to produce ID."

The girls have good weeks and bad weeks, Tia says, adding that the recession has affected business.

"Customer numbers have dropped," she says. "But we're doing better than other parlours.

"But if no customer walks through that door, you don't earn."

Holly is back in the common room. Is it possible to be attracted to a client, I ask?

"I have heard so many stories about girls dating customers," says Tia.

"I see it as a job."

Holly steers clear as well, and recalls a happy period working as a dominatrix, when she administered physical contact of a different kind.

She says: "I'm not a lesbian, but I don't like sex.

"I like making men happy though, and I really made them happy there."

Massage parlours are legal, but activities that go on inside may not be. They don't require a licence from the local council, but councils may often set out specific health and safety licensing requirements.

Holly is keen to stress there's a big difference between a prostitute on the streets and a working girl in a massage parlour.

I ask Holly and Tia what advice they had for girls who may be thinking of applying for a massage parlour job.

Despite their steely, upbeat views on their work, their reply is unequivocal.

"Go to a call centre," says Holly. "Go to college. Get some qualifications. I have put a few girls on that path." Tia says: "I wouldn't recommend this even if you're struggling."

Holly adds: "It's easy money — but you do pay for it."

postnews@swwmedia.co.uk

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