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For a few hours each day, a corner of Chinatown Complex Food Centre gets steamy - and we're not talking dim sum.
The action happens between young women and old men, who become less inhibited after downing bottles of beer.
Tucked away in a corner, right by the cleaning station, are "beer girls". They cuddle, flirt, sit and chat up customers.
When The New Paper on Sunday visited the food centre at Smith Street yesterday, a group of men were seen in the company of women, believed to be Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.
Some of the women - wearing mini-skirts and low-cut tops - were seen massaging the backs of customers while serving drinks.
Others allowed customers to kiss them.
They do this for a fee, other stallholders told The New Paper on Sunday.
"They are here for a few hours every evening entertaining men, and they receive $10 to $20 for the company," said one stallholder who declined to be named.
Local Chinese evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported that such activities occur over the weekend and public holidays and start at around 7pm.
The newspaper carried pictures of men and women indulging in flirtatious behaviour, including giving back massages.
A neighbouring stallholder told The New Paper on Sunday: "It is an eyesore but we leave them alone as long they don't bother our customers. All of them will clear out by 10pm any way."
Mr Eddie Kheng, 31, a regular customer at the hawker centre, finds the sight of foreign women openly soliciting elderly men unseemly.
He added: "But I can understand the girls' behaviour because they are working... They have to be friendly to sell beer to the customers.
"I honestly don't think there are any sex services being offered. In any case, friendly beer girls are everywhere. Yes, they can receive tips, but what is wrong with that?"
At around 7pm on Saturday night, the TNPS team staking out the hawker centre was approached by a woman who was taking orders for beer.
"Pick any girl you want," she told us. "I'll bring her to sit with you."
At another table, a man was seen caressing a woman and kissing her on the cheek.
He also stroked her cheek and placed his hands on her arms.
The man, who seemed to be in his 60s - declined to comment when approached later.
One customer, a man in his 50s, defended the girls. Referring to the pictures in yesterday's Shin Min Daily News, he said: "They are our personal friends, not beer girls."
He declined to be named.
The woman owner of a drinks stall at the food centre angrily defended her business and her behaviour.
The Singaporean, who wanted to be known only as Yoyo, said: "I was just making a friendly Thai gesture - the wai - to welcome my customers. I was not pestering the customers or soliciting.
"I run a clean business here and I never 'solicit' in that way. We just want our customers to buy drinks from us and have a good time."
