[tazzy]

It wasn;t a snack bar no (or at least not a standard one). Just a normal little pub. I don't see how having a female staff member should have been a hint. Women commonly work in innocent non-sleazy bars (e.g. my usual, some people I know back home, etc...) and this woman though not quite a mama san certainly wasn't hostess material and was dressed quite normally.
I've heard stories of other people encountering similar stuff in apparently innocent random pubs.

And it is mad, its very unusual and makes no sense, I don't get how they get business.
Yep, in hindsight should have asked but it just didn't strike that we would have to, it was just a little pub, nothing special to suggest there would be an entry fee.