Natural Nail Salon Near Me in Clapton: The Nail Room and Co

The Nail Room and Co does not do acrylics, and that was the whole point when it opened. The small salon at 42 Chatsworth Road, Lower Clapton, London E5 0LP, works on natural nails only, charges £34 for an Express Shellac Manicure, and stays open until 8pm on Thursdays. Homerton station is about ten minutes on foot. For a nail salon near me search in Clapton or Homerton, this is the neighbourhood's long-running alternative to acrylic bars.

Founder Lucy Francis worked in London salons, including four days a week in Shoreditch, and rented space in a hairdresser's on her other three days until she outgrew it. Looking for something bigger, she found a small shop on Chatsworth Road that she called perfect for a start-up salon. She started out working alone and soon hired technicians she had worked with before, and by April 2019 she ran a team of six.

The idea came from the street itself. Lucy told Scratch, the UK nail trade magazine, which featured the salon in its Salon in the Spotlight series in April 2019, that most local Hackney salons specialised in acrylics, so she opened one devoted to the health and care of natural nails. Her father, a carpenter, built the reception desk and the manicure table to her specification. She is still a director of the company and still takes bookings herself.

Shellac is the core of the menu. The Express Shellac Manicure, with shape, cuticle work and CND Shellac, is £34 for 45 minutes, and the Full Shellac Manicure adds exfoliation for £44 over an hour. A Full Regular Manicure with ordinary polish costs £25. The Hot Shea Butter Manicure, at £44, swaps the scrub for a warm moisturising mask, and the No Polish or Men's Manicure is £28 for 40 minutes.

For strength without acrylic, a short BIAB Manicure costs £42 and is booked for an hour and a half, and a BIAB infill is £47. If you want length, Gel Extensions are the only option at £50, with tips shaped and painted over 80 minutes. On the feet, the Full Shellac Wet Pedicure is £48, using a brown sugar and almond oil scrub, and a Shellac manicure and pedicure together is £80.

Every service comes with one block colour. Designs are booked as Nail Art Sets A to D: a custom hand-painted Set C, such as geometric, leopard or marble work, is £60 and takes an hour and 45 minutes, while the intricate Set D, with faces, foil stars or flowers, is £76. The salon asks you to send a photo of the design in advance so it can tell you which set to book.

The salon runs strictly by appointment. Give at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or move an appointment, or you risk losing the deposit, and no-shows are charged the full treatment price. Group bookings and parties go through the email form.

The online calendar books one treatment at a time, so a separate mani and pedi means two bookings unless you choose the combined service. Removing Shellac the salon applied costs £10, and removing someone else's costs £12, a small saving for loyal clients. Gift vouchers can be posted or collected, and you can order them by email or Instagram and pay by bank transfer.

Lucy wanted a room that men and women, young and old, would all feel comfortable walking into, and the menu reflects that with a dedicated men's manicure and pedicure. She kept the furniture minimal because the shop is small. A Treatwell reviewer described it as light, bright and spotlessly clean, and others praised the comfortable pedicure chairs and a long wall of CND, OPI, DND, China Glaze and Color Club colours, including vegan-friendly and cruelty-free shades.

Many clients are locals who made it their regular salon. One wrote that the treatments were great value and the Shellac pedicure was the reason to come back, and another said Lucy was super precise and gave the best manicure they had had. The salon built up a 4.9 rating across 787 reviews on Treatwell before it stopped taking bookings there, and Google shows the same 4.9 today.

Skip this salon if you want acrylic, dip powder or a dramatic sculpted length, because gel tips are the limit. Remember too that basic prices cover one plain colour, so a set with detailed art can almost double the bill. The salon is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so weekend-only clients should aim for Saturday, when it opens from 10am to 6pm, and book early in the week to get a slot.

Chatsworth Road has been a market street for nearly a century: in the 1930s it held up to 200 stalls, trading as many as five days a week. Today Chatsworth Road Market sets up on Sundays from 10am, which is a day the salon is closed, so pair a Saturday appointment with a Sunday return for the stalls.

For coffee before your slot, Venetia's, a few doors along the same road, was one of Chatsworth Road's first independent cafes when it opened in 2006, built around carefully chosen local ingredients, and it opens at 8am, early enough for a coffee before a 10am slot. Thursday is the salon's late night, open until 8pm, which makes it the easiest evening for anyone commuting home through Homerton station after work.

Address: The Nail Room and Co, 42 Chatsworth Road, Lower Clapton, London E5 0LP. Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 7pm, Thursday 10am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. Nearest station: Homerton on the London Overground, about ten minutes' walk. £20 deposit at booking, 24 hours' notice to cancel. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to plan a Clapton coffee stop around your appointment.