Australian-owned Strong Pilates has just opened the doors of its first London studio in Islington. Created by Michael Ramsey, a personal trainer and former owner of F45 Franchises, pilates lovers shouldn’t go expecting classical pilates – while some moves are similar, Strong is an entirely new form of exercise on a pretty unique piece of kit.

Aiming to combine the strengthening moves of pilates with the heart-pumping highs of HIIT, classes take place on Rowformer machines that are part pilates reformer and part rowing machine, allowing a myriad of class types and combination of moves. Plus thanks to their low impact but high intensity, it’s suitable whether you’re a fitness novice or gym pro. Interior wise, it’s a slick affair, with their black and white colour schemes and catchy playlists.

Having taken Australia and New Zealand by storm, the Islington branch is the first of several due to open in the UK. A bit like Barry’s, their 45 minutes classes are themed on muscle group and will see you doing a mix of short bursts on the rower, followed by a resistance exercise and then back to the rower before another resistance move. The result is your heart rate firing throughout, leading to maximum calories getting burned, while muscles are lengthened and strengthened à la Pilates.

Aesthetic Doctor and skincare founder, Dr David Jack, has opened his brand new clinic in Belgravia.

Just like his Harley Street location, it doesn’t feel like a sterile clinic. Instead, it’s a beautifully designed space, including a chic SkinTech studio, three treatment rooms and a waiting area that feels more like hanging out in an elegant drawing room. He’s enlisted some exciting practitioners to work alongside him too, including plastic surgeon and Women’s Health expert, Dr Jo Mennie, aesthetic doctor Dr Brendan Khong and Master Facialist Izabela Pawlitka.

Treatment wise, they’ll offer all of the same treatments that you can currently get at Dr Jack’s Harley Street clinic plus extras including their express facial bar treatments (we tried their Korean-inpsired Glass Skin Facial, £170), nutritional therapy and the latest body treatments.

A little fact for you – NYDG is home to one of the greatest facials we’ve ever tried. So we were excited to try their new Trilogy Energy Lift Facial.

Devised by Dr Papageorgiou and delivered by their brilliant therapist Rosie, the Trilogy Energy Lift is designed to replenish skin and long-term remodel the dermal layers of the face and neck (£800) and/or the eye area (£400) by helping to stimulate new collagen growth and involves using three bits of kit that are renowned for getting serious results.

The first is the Hydrafacial, which is used to thoroughly cleanse and prep your skin. Next up is Lasergenesis, a laser that feels like tiny elastic bands pinging against the skin (without being painful), followed by radio frequency, which feels like a warm wand being passed over the face and neck and helps to address skin laxity on the eyelid, face and neck areas. Given the equipment and heat that the laser and radio frequency generates, we were pleasantly surprised to waltz out of the clinic with only the most mild redness that looked more like a healthy glow. In terms of a lift, we definitely felt like our cheekbones and jawline felt more defined.

While we definitely felt a boost after just one session, you’re ideally meant to have a course of four to six treatments, spaced two weeks apart. What we love about NYDG is that they really do tailor treatments to every client, ensuring results are long-term and seriously impressive.

Townhouse was one of our destinations of 2022 and it has started 2023 by continuing to expand at a phenomenal pace. It’s just 8 weeks into the new year and they’ve already opened a new location in the House of Elemis, Mayfair and a beautiful new airy space on the iconic King’s Road in Chelsea.

Located just by Old Church Street, the Chelsea salon includes all of the signature Townhouse interior touches – a curved marble manicure bar, sumptuous pedicure chairs and stylish pale wood and black accents. If you can, book to see the brilliant Monica, her meticulous nail prep and attention to detail meant that our manicure looked pristine for weeks afterwards.

Excitingly – they show no signs of slowing down, having just announced a new Guildford salon that’s opening on March 8th.

Last week wellbeing destination Palace Merano opened its newly renovated Revital Spa. Famed for their detoxing programmes that help tackle everything from recurring digestion issues through to weight loss and sleep, they enlisted interior designer Michel Jouannet to completely redesign the 1200m² spa.

Using calming tones in materials like marble, limestone and wood, the focus has been on promoting a feeling of light and space with all areas undergoing work, including transforming the former 25 massage cabins (where treatments like their cupping energy massages take place) into 18 more spacious cabins. There’s also a new 160 m² fitness room, with large panoramic windows overlooking the park and the outdoor pool and equipped by Technogym® Artis line machines. They’ve also got a new range of advanced active skincare products, Revital by Piroche Cosmétiques.

In total, the health and wellness departments at Palace Merano extend over 6000 m² of space dedicated to health and well-being. The Revital Spa is in addition to Palace Merano’s 1800 m² wellness area, which includes a 16m swimming pool with jacuzzi, an outdoor heated pool, sauna, Turkish bath, Kneipp path and women’s wellness area. Then there’s the 1500 m² medical department occupying the entire 5th floor, where more than 60 professionals – medical specialists, aesthetic doctors, nutritionists, alternative practitioners, physiotherapists, osteopaths and nurses work.

If you’re after a complete reboot, few programmes beat The 6-day Revital Detox for Longevity Programme, which includes the Revital Detox Diet, an assessment of toxicity levels, 5 bioenergy appointments including the check-up, DEXA scan, dietary examination, post-treatment stage diet plan, 6 energy massages, hydro-energy treatments including 6 hydro-aromatherapy sessions, 6 phyto-mud therapy sessions and 6 hydro-jet massages.

Packages start from €1800 (with the 6-Day Longevity €4,050 per person, plus €302 which covers three medical examinations with the doctor). Accommodation for seven nights in single occupancy starts from €2,520 in a Comfort Room.