Sex and the Capital City: How Edinburgh's saunas were launched in a bid to make prostitution safer
Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.In the early 1980s, Edinburgh was awash with heroin and the spread of a new and deadly disease ensured the city would become known as the ‘Aids capital of Europe’.Street prostitution centred around the Leith area, with many women walking its streets to earn cash to feed their drug habit.City leaders were searching for a way to cope with these growing social problems and their liberal approach meant the sex industry would soon flourish.It was 1982 when Edinburgh became the first city in the UK to effectively decriminalise brothels by granting saunas and massage parlours entertainment licenses.The move meant these premises would be subject to regular fire