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Coworking spaces with childcare

By Jen Barton Packer on 6/1/2020

For many of us, post-baby life as a parent is a mish-mash, jumble and juggle of negotiating work, life, parenthood and trying to squeeze in 10 minutes for ourselves whenever we can.
Co-working spaces with childcare options, cafes with supervised play and flexible childcare services are all essential to know about – they can be a lifeline in terms of allowing you to work when you need to, as well as giving you the opportunity to network. And you can relax as the kiddos will also have a great time.
When you see how gorgeous these London spaces are, neither you nor your mini-mes will want to leave. Now all you need is a good startup idea to justify any membership costs. Self-changing nappies, anyone?

Best for helping the freelance lifestyle: Cuckooz Nest, Clerkenwell

Best pay as you go: Cuckooz Nest, Clerkenwell

The concept of Cuckooz Nest is simple: by creating an Ofsted-rated nursery-meets-beautifully designed workspace, working parents can get what they need to done, without the stress. The best bit? You can book in on a Pay-As-You-Go basis with no minimum time requirement – you just need to book in 24 hours ahead, and the next day you can be tapping away on your laptop while your little one plays on one of those gorgeous Muro activity centres you want to buy but can't quite justify. Drop in is £20 an hour for fewer than 10 hours a week but goes down to just £14 an hour if you're looking to book in for a full work week. There's also desk-only membership (plus crèche) and monthly membership from £12 an hour, whether you need the space for eight hours that week, or 38.

WHERE

24 Ray Street, London, EC1R 3DJ

Best for collaborative culture: Second Home, London Fields

A colourful co-working mecca, Second Home's fourth London location opened in Spring 2019, and is known for its collaborative community spirit and nature-focused ambience (think hanging gardens and voids to maximise the light from floor to floor). It brings together a mix of people from diverse worlds, like charity workers, creative freelancers and startup entrepreneurs. Let's add parents to that list: N Family Club Nursery – which embraces concepts like Forest School, foreign language learning and teaching ideas from Maria Montessori and Reggio Emilia – has set up a space in Second Home to provide on-site childcare for working parents. Hurrah! There's even a rooftop garden for the kids, which is a dream come true with water and muddy play stations.

WHERE

Second Home London Fields,125–127 Mare Street, London, E8 3SJ

Best for parents who need a free morning: PlayPen, Mile End

Working on your laptop while sipping an almond latte sounds blissful – and also next-to-impossible once you have a child. Not anymore: East London residents with babies six months and older all need to know about PlayPen Cowork, which runs at St. Pauls Way Community Centre in Mile End. While baby and toddler (they take kids up to age five) get entertained in the crèche, parents work, nibble on cake and make the most of the free WiFi at next door's Bow Brew Cafe. There are two weekly sessions during term time, on Monday and Thursday mornings from 9:30am-12pm. Only eight children are admitted per session so book ahead at playpen.brownpapertickets.com – it's £15 for one child, £20 for two.

WHEN

Mondays, Thursdays, 9:30am-12pm

WHERE

Paper & Cup Café and Crèche, St Pauls Way Centre, 83 St Paul's Way, London E3 4AH

Best for entrepreneurs-in-training: Calthorpe Project, Bloomsbury Beginnings – Kings Cross

For many parents, the inspiration to try out a new career comes after children - as do those game-changing entrepreneurial ideas. Bloomsbury Beginnings at the Calthorpe Project is all about encouraging those big ideas: the crèche-meets-incubator is designed to support parents and those leading sustainable businesses to overcome obstacles and develop and scale their value propositions. Spring 2020 sessions will be announced soon; in the meantime, head over there on Tuesdays for the coworking cafe and crèche: three hours of inspiring learning and play for kids aged 1-3, while you get some headspace to do what you need. You can also sign up to workshops and networking events for parents. Admission is £32.93 for three hours - book your place here.

WHERE

Calthorpe Project, 258-274, Grays Inn Road, WC1X 8LH

Best for community spirit: Huckletree West, White City

Warning: this is the kind of enticing workspace that may make it impossible to ever work from home again. Think chill-out zones like a Meditation Yurt, sunken seating, a podcasting booth for creative content makers and a whiteboard 'braindump' room. For parents, there's a Power Parents membership, which includes half-day childcare, either mornings (9am-1:30pm) or afternoons (1:30pm-6pm), Monday-Friday. The space boasts changing facilities, soft play and toys for the little ones and a cool, creative office vibe for the big ones, not to mention industry-leader workshop opportunities and meetups with the likes of Peanut's Michelle Kennedy, Mother Pukka, Mums in Tech and Doing It For the Kids (from £175 a month).

WHEN

Monday-Friday, 9am-1:30pm or 1:30pm-6pm

WHERE

White City Place, 191 Wood Lane, W12 7FP, London

The music room at Maggie & Rose Islington

Best family members' club: Maggie & Rose Islington

Maggie & Rose's new Islington outpost has something for everyone, member or not (non-members can use the ground floor cafe, rent the space out for parties or sign up to the nursery). There is an added bonus for members, however: a coworking space on the members' floor. With a two-way mirror onto the soft play zone, parents can type or talk on the phone in a soundproof, stylish, workspace area, while ensuring their little ones are secure and happy.

The Wing, London: a members' club exclusively for women

Best womens' club: The Wing

The recently opened London outpost of NYC female members' club The Wing is stylish, spacious and kid-friendly: There's a breastfeeding/baby room, and parents can bring up to two children on site at any time. Not childcare per se, but Little Wing nursery-style options exists at some of The Wing's spaces on the other side of the Atlantic, so watch this space.

WHERE

The Wing
14 Great Portland Street, Fitzrovia, , London , W1W 8QW

Best for flexible hours: Third Door, Putney

Dropping your little one in the nursery and running upstairs to your spacious modern desk to work in peace sounds a lot better than your current trying to work from home while cooking, cleaning, doing-laundry and rocking a baby panic, doesn't it? Choose from fixed childcare to accommodate your steady work (from £368 a month for one day a week) or a flexible option for more unpredictable work patterns, which gives you the choice of different days and hours each week (just book 48 hours in advance), from £360 for 30 hours a month – parents appreciate that you only pay for what you're using. Even within the fixed contract, there's some flex room to swap days or add extra ones.

WHERE

16 Point Pleasant, Putney, London, SW18 1GG

The Kids' Table offers entertainment for the kids while parents eat

Best for sneaking in an hour of work: Crèche-taurants

In London, you can go out to eat with your child and potentially score some childcare to finish up those last-minute presentation edits. The Kids' Table pops up at pubs and restaurants across London on weekends, providing supervised games and crafts for 3-10-year-olds during lunch. You'll also find restaurants with soft-play spots and kiddie dens in child-heavy London neighbourhoods, from Balham to Highbury (Little Highness Play Cafe). While most require supervision for the little ones, you'll probably have enough time to scoff a cake, drink a coffee and send a couple of work emails.

WHEN

23 Jun 2019 – 26 Jul 2020, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

WHERE

Market Hall Fulham
472 Fulham Road, London, SW6 1BY

Best for a comes-to-your-home childcare option: Babysitting apps

We're living in the age of the life-saving app, which means a childcare-related emergency (e.g. lack of) is totally preventable – you will be able to make it to Manchester to give that talk you've been paid for in advance, after all. Apps like Bubble, Urban Sitter and Sitters can help you find a last-minute sitter or nanny (even in a two-hour window), and sometimes you just need to be able to have someone come to you when you need a hand.

Award winning Koru Kids is the go-to service for those looking for after-school help, and they've recently launched a novel idea: a 'family finder' family matching service in five boroughs across London (Brent, Camden, Westminster, Southwark and Wandsworth), which puts parents in touch with other local families for childcare swaps in the neighbourhood. Parents fill out their needs using a matching tool on the site, chat online, meet in person and find an arrangement to suit them both, which can be longer-term or a bit more ad hoc. This also sounds like a great way to meet other parents in the same boat (new mum friends!)... and maybe even potential business partners or colleagues for that next Big Idea.