A BROTHEL operating in the same leafy suburban road as a nursery and a pre-school has sparked outrage among people living nearby.

Rachel's Beckenham set up shop in Langley Road, Elmers End, during the summer, offering the sexual services of a different young woman every day of the week for £40 to £80.

Langley Pre-School, Teddies Nurseries as well as Marian Vian Primary School are all within a short walk of the brothel and the road is understood to be part of the walking bus route for the out-of-school club.

Rachel's is situated at the more upmarket end of the road, where most homes are three-bedroom Victorian semi-detached houses that sell for about £300,000.

Neighbours have been bothered by customers, mostly businessmen, coming and going between the opening hours of 11am and 8pm and taking up residents' parking spaces.

A woman living in the road, whose two children attend the primary school and used to go to the pre-school, said: "I'm not happy about it. It's a really nice area. To be fair, they're very discreet but we don't want the area to go downhill. There's a few empty shops that could turn into sex shops or brothels unless the police shut it down."

The building had been converted from a children's clothes shop about 18 months ago, she said.

A man living in the road said: "We don't want brothels in residential areas because they attract undesirables." He added that he was in favour of setting up licensed brothels elsewhere.

Staff at all three schools had been unaware of the brothel. Helen Murray, manager of Teddies Nurseries, said that the children were safe inside the nursery but that she would inform staff to be aware when they went home at 6pm.

The woman who runs the brothel, calling herself Rachel, said: "The police have been here. People visualise all kinds of things that are not true. There are no men involved in the running of this business and there are no illegal girls or drugs involved."

She refuted the idea that the brothel could attract paedophiles. "The nursery is half-way up the road," she added.

Cllr Rod Reed, who represents people living in the area, called on the police to close down the brothel. He also said that it was time for brothels to be licensed in order to protect working girls from criminal gangs and avoid such establishments being set up in quiet neighbourhoods.

"It's clearly a worry to residents and the police need to close it down," he said. "Particularly in view of the proximity to the pre-school and nursery. Sometimes these places can attract other forms of criminal behaviour. It's something the police need to take action on. If you take a soft line on one, it encourages more such places to start up."

A police spokeswoman for the police said that officers would gather evidence to close down a brothel if they received "bona fide" complaints about it.

"Operation Kontiki targets sex establishments with raids to gather evidence and protect the welfare of people working in the brothel," she added.

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