Doctor's brothel not attracting customers

The doctor behind Whalers - the Far North's only brothel - may have to return to medicine to prop up his struggling business.

Dr Neil Benson says he has struggled to find the right women to work at the brothel and has already dismissed one worker.

The brothel has had a shaky start since it opened in May and has only been open 10 days this month.

"It's been a slow start, which is what we thought," Dr Benson said. "We've had a bit of gap between the last ladies and another lady who is coming up to work today.

"Financially it's difficult but we'll get there. I may have to go out and do some locum work.

"We haven't made any money for ourselves - it's been a big financial loss."

Dr Benson closed his Coopers Beach clinic in April last year after a dispute with the Te Tai Tokerau Primary Health Organisation over the provision of after-hour care.

His wife Helen is now in charge of finding women to work at the brothel.

"She is doing a wonderful job with that. We went to Wellington a week ago and we've been to Auckland this last week so we now have a small number of excellent ladies who want to work here.

"We have one lady coming up and she will be here for three weeks and we've got another lady coming up on Monday to check it out and she will be coming up with very permanent aspirations."

Mrs Benson said it became obvious that those working in the industry preferred to speak to another woman about employment issues.

"I thought I would just be taking a background role but I don't mind talking to people. There has been a learning curve involved but I've found them to be very kind. They offer constructive advice about the business," she said.

"They're pleased someone is trying to do something better in the industry."

Dr Benson said a lot of sex workers had expressed an interest in working in the brothel over the summer period and conceded that it would have been easier if the brothel had opened in summer.

"I think it would be very foolish not to continue at this point because I think the market is there - it's just a matter of meeting the supply and demand. We will just continue towards the dream we had in the beginning because it was a correct dream.

"It's totally different to what anybody has done in New Zealand. We're trying to have an upmarket facility in a small town - we're trying things that haven't been done before."

Dr Benson said he was unwilling to make any compromises on the standards set for the brothel.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)