It seems the bell has tolled for one of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s oldest and most infamous industries, as local brothels struggle to cope with the dynamics of a modern sex trade.

Carmel Galvin, who has owned Questa Casa on Hay Street for more than two decades, said her business had been devoid of prostitutes for more than three weeks.

The 110-year-old business now survives purely on its tour service, which remains a popular attraction for people visiting the city.

It is a far cry from Hay Street’s heyday, when the historic strip used to be home to a raft of brothels housing the city’s sex workers.

With strong competition from sex workers operating privately, Ms Galvin said she was unable to find staff because working from a licensed brothel in Kalgoorlie-Boulder was no longer viable.

“The mobile phone today has almost made the brothel obsolete because all a girl now has to do is put an ad in the paper,” she said.

“Most girls now, when they do come into a brothel, they come in to get the telephone numbers of the men so that they can have them as a private client.

“I have lasses who’ve been here before who ring me occasionally and I stay in touch with them.

“They’d be delighted to be here but there isn’t the money — a girl can sit at the door here from 6pm until midnight and speak to three or four blokes.”

Langtrees owner Mary-Anne Kenworthy said unregistered brothels operating in residential areas had made it impossible for brothels to survive in their own right.

“Kalgoorlie can support 20 working girls, it’s still got 20 working girls, they’re just in residential areas,” she said.

“The Hay Street era is over and these things do happen in business, things naturally die off and others start — Hay Street is at an end.

“The street does have an interesting history, but we’ve had to bring in tourism for many years to make ends meet.

“The reason is the girls aren’t making any money — a working girl is not going to go to Kalgoorlie for $1000 a week, you’ve got to be able to make these girls $4000 minimum for it to be worth travelling.”