A number of respectable correspondents wrote to the papers around this time talking of the hypocrisy of the police, targeting the lower class prostitutes while the ‘fur coat and no knickers’ brigade worked untouched around Abercromby Square.
The prostitutes weren’t naïve, and neither were the police.
By dressing well and perambulating around the Square and nearby streets, the business ladies of the night were strolling up and down the same roads and gardens as the wives of the mayors, councilmen and merchants of influence. It was a brave bobby who would risk a scene by taking a gamble that the woman ambling gentle along on the arm of well-dressed gentleman was headed for a shilling knee trembler round the corner rather than being the wife or daughter of the Judge who lived opposite.
People from every trade and business found the square profitable in one way or another.