KEY POINTS:
A far north doctor who gave up his Coopers Beach practice to open a brothel has closed the business after difficulties finding and keeping staff.
Dr Neil Benson, 48, caused an uproar in May when he converted his consulting rooms into four feature rooms for women sex workers, but the operation folded on Thursday with just one worker left on the books.
"She wanted to continue but she'll now go to Auckland for work," Dr Benson said yesterday.
"We never expected it to be a big money-spinner in winter but we thought we'd do better in summer. So it was a big decision to close down."
Dr Benson said it had been "a fascinating project" for him and wife Helen. "We're proud of what we did. It was bold and appropriately run."
An innovative feature was that the Bensons rented the bordello's rooms to sex workers, leaving the women to set their own prices and decide what hours to work.
The Canadian GP and his family are now living in Kerikeri, from where he has been commuting to Levin, in the lower North Island, every second week for the past five months to do locum work.
Dr Benson will look at renting or selling the brothel - and an adjacent refurbished house used as a live-in residence by sex workers.
The GP gave up his Coopers Beach sole practice last year after a long and unresolved dispute with the local Te Tai Tokerau primary health organisation over after-hours callouts and rostered weekend cover for doctors in Kaitaia.
