Yab Yum (brothel)

Yab Yum was one of the best-known and most exclusive brothels in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Located in a 17th-century canal house on the Singel, it mostly catered to businessmen and foreign visitors. A second Yab Yum operated for a while in Rotterdam, but has since been closed.

In January 2008, the city of Amsterdam closed the brothel by revoking its license, alleging that it was being used for criminal activity.

As of 2005^[update], the entrance fee was 70 euros, which included a drink. Sex for one hour cost 300 euros, but typically also required the purchase of an expensive bottle of champagne.

From its beginning in the 1980s until the legalisation of brothels in 2000, the Yab Yum operated as a "licensed club with no members" and was tolerated according to police guidelines, as long as no drugs and no violence was involved. The club advertised in student newspapers to find employees.

In 1997, it was reported that a woman earned up to $10,000 per month working at Yab Yum, tax free. Anticipating stricter regulation, the club agreed to pay taxes for its 55 employees starting 1 January 1998.

In anticipation of the official legalisation of brothels on 1 October 2000, Yab Yum owner Theo Heuft applied to open a "relax service" at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, to offer exclusive food, drink and massages to travellers. When he was turned down, he filed a lawsuit. The airport brothel was never opened.

In an interview in Millionair Magazine in February 2008, Heuft said that the brothel made its best ever earnings, just over 40,000 euros, on the evening in 1985 when the Dutch football team beat Cyprus 7-1 in Amsterdam. He complained about the "dreadful" atmosphere caused by the "ordinary clientele" that night.

The club has repeatedly been mentioned in connection with corruption affairs. In 1998 it was alleged that a director of a brokerage house regularly obtained insider information by inviting senior executives to Yab Yum. In 2002 a former manager of a building company alleged that civil servants were commonly bribed with visits to Yab Yum.

In 1990 the major drug trafficker Klaas Bruinsma and his associate Roy Adkins fought in the club after one of their operations had gone sour; shots were fired but nobody was injured and nobody talked to the police. Adkins was assassinated later that year and Bruinsma was shot to death in 1991.

...
Wikipedia