Neal's Yard Remedies, Wimbledon Village

I had a very quick half hour facial rejuvenation massage here, which was wonderful if a little brusque (the therapist told me she was working faster than usual as we only had half an hour), and it certainly did the trick to relax me - despite the odd choice of music upstairs in the shop and the loud banging noises above my head.  (My treatment room was directly underneath the shop).

However when I went back for another full hour treatment I was disappointed that the treatment seemed just as brusque (and an hour of it was actually less enjoyable than just half an hour) the thudding and banging was just ridiculous and finally I felt the therapist was a bit cranky at the end:  She did the usual thing when we had finished of leaving me with a glass of water and telling me to get up when I was ready.  Well, as I was already fully clothed, being a facial massage, I decided to take her at her word instead of jumping straight up and instead enjoyed a few moments to relax.  When she came back and saw that I wasn’t ready to go she got quite flustered and told me I had to leave (no sh&^, Sherlock) and rushed me out.  Now I just think this is unprofessional therapist behaviour.  It cannot be an uncommon occurrence for people to get a bit sleepy - it’s happened to me on a number of occasions.  My regular facial rejuvenation massage therapist doesn’t leave the room before she’s helped me to sit up and she usually escorts me straight to the relaxation area.  Here’s how I feel any lingering should be dealt with:  A big smile or even a laugh from the therapist, after all the point of it is relaxation, and a “let me show you to the relaxation area”, or even “can I help you with your bag” or “do you have everything?”  There are chairs both outside in the hall downstairs here, and upstairs where you’re welcome to have some herbal tea.  So she could have just shown me to one of these areas - also having a relaxed looking client sitting in full sight of the shop would probably help business.

This is a shop with treatment rooms and is great for what it is, but perhaps bring your own noise reducing headphones to avoid that banging upstairs and don’t confuse it with an actual spa.

Don’t get me wrong, some of these are excellent, but I couldn’t, in good conscience give them a Pearl Recommendation.  Sometimes they were just beaten to the punch, or I couldn’t decide a clear winner, other times they had a lot right, but I felt they just weren’t there.  I don’t really want to give bad reviews, but anything I felt was really best avoided you’ll find in the Jellyfish section.