The late twenties, and the long evenings
Seven women on the roster have their late twenties printed plainly on their own pages, and those seven are the ones set out below. The shortlist runs wider, because the middle of the twenties falls on one side of a line that does not really exist, and no page here is going to pretend otherwise.
What this band genuinely shares is booking length. These are the names that get asked for three and four hours rather than one, and most of them will tell you straight out that the third hour is the one worth having.
Late twenties, on the board
Cindy
26 · Chelsea
Danielle
29 · South Kensington
Karolina
27 · Covent Garden
Laura
25 · Paddington
Liana
28 · Bow
Michelle
27 · Shoreditch
Milena
25 · Hoxton
Nora
26 · London Fields
Patricia
28 · Bethnal Green
Rosa
25 · Whitechapel
Samanta
27 · Bow
Thea
29 · Limehouse
Tina
26 · Hackney
Vanessa
25 · Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green, two of them
Karolina is slim at 174 cm, black hair heavy and straight, and has stopped explaining herself, which makes for restful company. Patricia is slim at 172 cm with long auburn brown hair and a level gaze, and keeps a conversation moving without ever taking it over. Both work the Columbia Road and Hackney Road ends of E2, and both are dinner bookings first.
Shoreditch, the quiet half
Michelle is curvy at 173 cm, dark brown hair straight, brown eyes level with yours, and calm enough to take two notches off the volume of a room. She is a listener by preference and very good at it, so people end up telling her things they had not meant to. The first hour with her is polite; the third is the one people book again for.
Dalston, and records played properly
Danielle is curvy at 170 cm with long black hair falling straight and a stillness that makes the pavement move around her instead. Music is her real subject, not opinions about it but actual records, and she is patient with beginners and merciless about bluffing. She is back in the first week of October and three hours suits her far better than one.
Out at Bow, unhurried on purpose
Liana is slim at 167 cm, chestnut brown and straight, and speaks at half the pace of her district. She walks the canal from Bow Locks to Victoria Park most weeks and has a long, funny grudge against the Olympic Park for what it did to the view. Samanta is slim at 174 cm, dark brown, wry, and in no hurry to impress anybody in the first ten minutes.
Limehouse, and the table by the water
Thea is curvy at 165 cm, caramel blonde, green eyes going grey in flat weather, and she laughs readily and at herself first. She sails badly and with enthusiasm, knows the tide better than the timetable, and takes early evenings and dinners around the basin and the Wharf. Three hours with her feels like ninety minutes, which is the compliment she would want.
What the band actually tells you
That she is in the second half of her twenties and nothing further. It is a line on a form, not a personality, and the seven above include the quietest company on this roster and two of the funniest. The number is worth exactly as much as it is worth, which is to say not much once anybody has sat down.
Where they also sit, and holding an evening
Four of the seven are on slim and slender, three on curvaceous and four on statuesque. These are the names behind most of the overnight and dinner bookings the desk writes. Send booking the hour, the length and the address, and see rates for the figures, which start at £250.
Other shortlists
The trains stop. We do not.
One message with the date, the time and the postcode, and the rest of the night is arranged quietly, anywhere from Hoxton down to the basin at Limehouse.