Nestled close to a popular ladies hairdresser and an award-winning chippie lies this unremarkable terraced house in a small town in Derbyshire.
Every day, a regular trickle of locals file past it to walk the dog, buy chips or get their hair done, unaware of what goes on inside.
Even residents who live directly opposite the anonymous house in the former coal mining town of Ilkeston seem to have no idea of why men – and it is always men – regularly turn up at the front door, often looking furtive or cagey.
Perhaps the first clue as to what lies within comes from the front windows which, unusually, are tinted – and then there is the sign on the front door which instructs visitors to ‘please use the other entrance at rear’.
A quick walk around the corner, down a side road and a left turn into a tight alleyway brings them to an unlocked gate and on heading into the small patio yard, continue past a washing line hung with bed sheets and towels to another door where a second sign asks callers to ‘knock loudly’ on the back door.
And what awaits the male visitors who make it to this point?
Those entering this portal will be met by a glamorous-looking madam who will then show them to a waiting room where one or two ‘masseuses’ are on hand to provide discrete personal services.
Welcome to Spangles – Ilkeston’s secret brothel.
Nestled close to a popular ladies hairdresser and an award-winning chippie lies this unremarkable terraced house in Ilkestone, Derbyshire, which houses a brothel called Spangles
The brothel’s website, which brands the business as a massage parlour, shows a number of women wearing provocative clothing
Located on a side street just off the town’s main drag, the business, which is branded as a massage parlour but has nothing in the way of signage, has been in operation there for at least the last seven-years since moving from nearby Nottingham.
It opens seven days a week at 10am and closes by 6pm.
This means it is competing for any passing lunchtime trade with Kerry’s Fish and Chips, two doors down on the corner – which still proudly announces how it was voted best chippie in Ilkeston in 2011.
The street around Spangles is a mixture of residential and business with an accountants office, Thai restaurant and Polish supermarket as well as a legitimate massage parlour.
Staff at the Headrock ladies hairdressers and the Simply Beauty parlour immediately to the left of Spangles had no idea of what lurked on the other side of their walls until this week.
One woman having her hair set said: ‘I just thought it was a normal house.’
Yet a cursory glance at Spangles’ official website would leave them with no doubts about what actually happens within.
A sign on the brother’s front door instricts punters to use the entrance at the rear of the building
‘Experience the luxury of our exquisite massage services provided by the finest masseuses in the industry’ trumpets the Spangles homepage.
‘With a perfect blend of elegance and style, our talented ladies are dedicated to delivering an exceptional no-rush service that guarantees you will leave with a smile.
‘Each day, we feature two or more enticing masseuses, showcasing a diverse selection of beauty—from slim and leggy blondes to voluptuous brunettes.
‘Whether you prefer curvy or slim, tall or petite, our team, aged from their early 20s to late 30s, is here to cater to your desires and provide a rejuvenating experience tailored just for you.
‘Indulge yourself and let us take care of you!’
The girls who have suitably exotic names like ‘Tia’, ‘Isabella ‘ and Sienna’ are pictured in various states of undress, some leave very little to the imagination while others are a little more demure, though all faces are either hidden or blurred.
Spangles includes a schedule of which girls are available on which day.
When MailOnline called this week, the two masseuses on duty were 39-year-old blonde Lisa, who is seen nude in her publicity photo but covers her modesty with a large coffee table book and brunette Heidi, 26 who poses topless in white and black lingerie.
Both thankfully are ‘fully qualified in Level 3 full body massage’.
However when we called the mobile number given on the website we were told that Heidi had gone home for the day and only Lisa was available.
A 15-minute ‘quickie’ was £60, we learned, while a half-hour session would cost £80 or £90 if the client wanted a room with an en-suite bathroom to wash up in afterwards.
So is all this legal? Technically no.
Under British law, a brothel is classed as any premise – be it flat, house or massage parlour – where more than one person sells sexual services.
Although It is not illegal to sell sexual services or work in a brothel it is an offence to ‘keep, manage, act or assist in the management of a brothel.’ The sentence is a fine or seven years in prison.
Assisting in the management of a brothel can include keeping books, paying bills, holding keys and handling and logging money coming in from clients.
But in reality, these long-standing laws are rarely if ever enforced.
The sign can be seen on the left of shot in this photograph of the front of the premises
Located on a side street just off the town’s main drag, the business, which is branded as a massage parlour but has nothing in the way of signage, has been in operation there for at least the last seven-years since moving from nearby Nottingham
This is because the latest guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council states: ‘Brothel closures and raids create a mistrust of all external agencies . . . it is difficult to rebuild trust and ultimately reduces the amount of intelligence submitted to the police and puts sex workers at greater risk.’
But even if no one is going from Derbyshire police is going to be knocking on the shop door anytime soon – the stigma attached to the business, because of its nature, is obvious.
A young mother who asked not to be named lives in a flat close by with her young son and said that over the course of the last two days some 20 or so men had visited the brothel.
She said: ‘You can tell them a mile-off.
‘They do all they can to be inconspicuous. Some pretend to be on the phone and walk down the side street and pause by the alleyway.
‘I see them looking around to see who is about and if anyone clocks them, they walk straight on and pretend they’re going somewhere else but really they just go round the block and come back. When the coast is clear they’ll go in.
‘Some are in ten minutes, others come out half an hour so later. But when they emerge from the alleyway, their heads are down and they’re in a rush to get away.
‘I tease them sometimes and shout things like ‘you dirty tramp!’. None ever look up, they’re off like a shot.
‘You get a mixture of blokes who go there. Some are in their 20s and 30s and others around 60. Some are good looking and well dressed and others are scruffy who look as though they’ve never known the sweet embrace of a woman.
A photograph showing the former site of ‘Spangles health spa’ in Nottingham
A blonde woman wearing red and black lingerie sprawls across a pink sofa on the brothel’s website
The building in which Spangles is housed is owned by Martyn Kelk
‘The brothel is hidden away down the bottom of the alley. People walk past that place and have no idea what’s going on inside.
‘I’ve known about it for about six or seven years – it’s the only one I know of in Ilkeston.
‘I think on average I must see about 10 punters visiting there a day – although I’m sure there’s a lot more who go through the door.
‘But I don’t like it being so close to my home. I live here with my little son. I think it’s appalling that such a place exists – I wish it would be shut down.’
Apprentice electrician Alfie Perkins, 21, moved into a terraced house behind the brothel with his partner in February.
They had no idea that sex workers were plying their trade there but Alfie said: ‘We see men going in all the time.
‘At first we thought it was a block of flats but the men sometimes wait in the yard for others to come out first.
‘There’s never any women. It makes perfect sense now that I know what that place is.
‘My partner wants to get tinted windows at the back of the house because she doesn’t like the fact the punters can see into our kitchen.
‘To be fair, though, there’s never been any trouble there whatsoever and there’s not much noise from people coming or going from the premises.
‘It’s funny, someone told me the other day that there was a massage parlour around here…I didn’t realise it was just behind us.’
A trucker in his 50s who lives a few doors down from Alfie but who wished to remain anonymous said the brothel used ingenious ways to let punters know it was open for business.
He told us: ‘You wouldn’t know it was even there, they’re very, very discreet.
‘There’s no signage outside, no red-light or anything like that. What they do sometimes is one of the girls will drape fluorescent workmen trousers out of an upstairs window. It’s a code that they’re open and ready for business.
‘I’ve walked past and seen the trousers myself several times. There’s always a lot of activity at the back of my house with blokes heading in and out.
‘There used to be music playing and in the summer with the windows open you’d hear it from the street. I think they got some complaints so they stopped.
‘It doesn’t really bother me too much that it’s there. People using their services tend to keep a low profile… for obvious reasons.’
Spangles has 56 reviews on Punternet – a US-based website dubbed the ‘Blue Pages’ or ‘Thrustpilot’ in which men compare experiences of various working women.
The reviews – only a handful of which are less than positive – date all the way back to December 2006, when the business was based at a health spa and sauna above a parade of shops on the Derby Road near the centre of Nottingham, where it remained until 2018 before moving to Ilkeston.
One punter – who calls himself ‘andybaby’ on Punternet – wrote: ‘Spangles is great. Easy parking behind the shops where nobody can see you get out your car and enter.
‘Nice shower and changing facilities. The rooms are basic with just a massage table but they are clean.’
Another client -‘hxxx’ – who had half an hour with two of the girl – provided a fascinating insight into trip.
He wrote: ‘Spangles is a really friendly place. Everyone who works there is very welcoming and the receptionist is a star.
A 2018 review of the brothel describes the premises as ‘two, tiny pokey rooms with a massage table in each above a row of shops’
‘The rooms are rather small (barely big enough for a massage table) and the piped radio is annoying (it was quite surreal to hear the traffic report during a live lesbian sex show) but I love this place all the same. It’s safe and clean.’
According to the Land Registry the house that Spangles is based in belongs to former electrical contractor turned property investor Martyn Kelk.
Mr Kelk, 62, bought the property for £60,000 at auction in 2018.
In 2017 his then company Premier Electrical Services – which he sold a year later – was the shirt sponsor for League Two football side Notts County.
He lives in a sprawling farmhouse 20-miles from Ilkeston in the Nottinghamshire village of Owthorpe.
Mr Kelk is currently in Greece on holiday but he told the Mail this week of his shock: ‘I had no idea that the property was being used in such a way.
‘The person who runs the business and who rents the property from me is listed on my accounts as a beauty therapist.
‘Once a tenant signs the lease I don’t tend to hear from them unless there’s a problem. I haven’t been to the site for years as it’s nearly an hour away from my home.
‘When I bought the property, it was in a dilapidated state and I spent a year renovating it. The person who runs the business has been a tenant for about six years, I don’t have the paperwork with me so I can’t tell you how long the lease has left to run.
‘But do I need to kick them out? A good friend of mine is a police officer, I may have to ask him for advice.’
A spokeswoman for Spangles insisted they were a legitimate massage business and strongly denied that their masseuses every carry out any sexual services.
They also said they had not deceived anyone over their lease.
They also asked MailOnline to respect the privacy of their staff and customers.
