London

East
Anita Cox
A great hair and beauty salon providing an excellent service. Quick fixes include a half hour massage for £30 and half hour hair straightening for £35.
62 Britton St, EC1 (020 7251 8220/www.anitacox.co.uk) Farringdon tube/rail. Open Mon 9am-6pm, Tue-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm.

The Beauty Box
Liverpool Street bustles at a manic pace outside, so inside the therapists are used to doubling up and whizzing through. They can do a manicure and pedicure in under 45 minutes for £49, while most treatments last less than an hour.
Metropolitan Station Arcade, Liverpool St, EC2 (020 7621 1400/www.thecitybeautybox.co.uk) Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon-Wed 10am-7pm, Thur, Fri 8am-7pm. Feature continues

City Beach
Much beloved of City girls who appreciate a good treatment that’s reasonably priced. Most therapies last just under an hour, and as long as it’s logistically possible, you can double up. Therapist Dawn works magic into her 30-minute mini-facial (£24), or the overworked can dash in – and out – for a 15-minute deep tissue massage (£15).
10 Lamb St, E1 (020 7247 7878) Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon-Thur 10am-7pm, Fri 10am-6pm, Sat, Sun 10am-4pm.

Energy Clinic
BEST SPEED MASSAGE
As well as offering feng shui-balanced conference rooms (or ‘energy rooms’) and Rejuvenation sessions utilising Chinese therapies, Energy Clinic is also a spa with a 4-Hands Partial massage (30 minutes, £80) if you need a particularly strong massage, an Espresso Facial that takes just 40 minutes (£58) or a Regenerating Firming Eye Treatment that should have you bright-eyed in 30 minutes (£38).
132 Commercial St, E1 (020 7650 0718/ www.energyclinicuk.com) Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat, Sun 9am-2pm.

Glass
A wash and blow-dry costs £25 here and takes just over half an hour.
8 Carthusian St, EC1 (020 7253 5700) Farringdon tube/rail. Open Mon, Tue, Fri 9.30am-7pm, Wed, Thur 9.30am-8.30pm, Sat 10am-4pm.

Harbour Beauty Clinic
If a slow amble around the dock with its swanky yachts and lapping water doesn’t relax you, popping in here for a Stress Buster massage (£15 for 15 minutes, £28 for 30 minutes) should. The staff can do a Dermologica Prescriptions facial in 30 minutes for £30 too.
Ivory House, St Katherine’s Dock, E1 (020 7481 4500) Tower Hill tube. Open Mon 9am-6pm, Tue-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9.30am-4pm.

Nails Inc
Booking ahead is essential, especially in lunch breaks, but for time-deficient City folk, the Double Decker gets hands and feet beautiful in around 40 minutes (£65). If you’ve got a bit more cash, go for the Everlasting polish: it’s £110, but you won’t get a chip for three weeks.
46 Bishopsgate, EC2 (020 7382 9353/www.nailsinc.com) Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon-Fri 8am-7pm.

Taylor Taylor
BEST ALL-ROUNDER
This brilliant newish east London salon (whose original sister store is still on Cheshire Street) caters for just about every beauty need going. Owner Bradley Taylor is the man who actually invented Express Highlights (it still offers a half head within an hour-and-a-half for short hair from £120). You can also get a cut and blow-dry from £29 well within 45 minutes, while speedy beauty treatments such as eyelash tints (£15) and a nail fill and polish (£12) are easily achieved all within your lunch hour.
137 Commercial St, E1 (020 7377 2737) Liverpool St tube/rail. Mon-Wed 10am-8pm, Thur 10am-9pm, Fri 10am-7pm, Sat, Sun 10am-6pm.

Urban Haircutters
Need a quick pep-me-up? Get a fringe trim taking five minutes for £5, a blow-dry taking half an hour for £28, or, for men, a whole wash and haircut for £26 within half an hour.
53 Brushfield St, E1 (020 7377 1279) Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 9.30am-6.30pm, Wed 9.30am-7pm, Sat, Sun 11am-5pm.

Vision
In half an hour you can have either an Express blow-dry for £25 or an ammonia-free Wella semi-permanent colour to boost and shine for £50.
8 Dray Walk, 91 Brick Lane, E1 (020 7247 6842/www.visionhair.co.uk) Aldgate East tube or Liverpool St tube/rail. Open Mon-Wed, Sat 10am-7pm, Thur, Fri 11am-9pm, Sun 11am-6pm.

Zoology
A Wanstead institution, where a wash and blow-dry is just £15-20 and takes around half an hour.
145 High St, E11 (020 8530 3005) Wanstead tube. Open Mon-Wed, Sat 9am-6pm, Thur 9am-8pm, Fri 9am-7pm.