A beauty salon? With a fully-supervised créche? I kid you not. Finally somewhere that gets it. BLO Bar in Chiswick is the name and consider this maternal mecca. They do it all: manis, pedis, blow dries, spray tans, muff waxes – whatever your urchin-battered body and mind needs.
It has all the hallmarks of a ‘normal’ (as in ‘no children welcome here EVER’) salon: plush soft white furnishings, an array of organic, eye-twitch calming teas and a roster of truly genned-up beauty folk. But any pomp and ceremony is replaced with calm, friendliness and… A CRÉCHE.
Like, you could stash an entire brood in there and do a full beauty MOT. The great thing is the pedicure room is right next to the créche entrance, so even if one of the kids kicks off, you are within arm’s reach, thus allaying any major ‘me time’ guilt. The urchin didn’t even notice I’d gone, so fruitful was the Peppa Pig toy inventory.
I left this maternal sanctuary – complete with swishy hair and pimped nails – after a full 90 minutes and thought, how is this not a thing? Like, a big thing?
The urchin was happy, mama was happy and then we scooted off for brunch together at the nearby Angie’s Little Food Shop (if you love taking photos of avocado toast, this is your place). Where, of course, a gargantuan meltdown ensued – restaurants/ other public spaces take note of the above.
Meanwhile, BLO Bar, we salute you.