Escorts in the West End: ring the bell by Leicester Square, W1 and WC2

Regent Street is the spine, curving from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus in one sweep of cream stone. Liberty sits just behind it on Great Marlborough Street, Hamleys fills seven floors with noise, and Carnaby Street runs parallel with its smaller labels. South of Piccadilly, Jermyn Street keeps its shirtmakers and its cheese shop, Fortnum and Mason keeps its clock, and the Burlington and Piccadilly arcades shelter tiny shops beneath glass roofs.

When the tills close the quarter changes character without emptying. Leicester Square fills for the cinemas and the occasional premiere, the kitchens of Chinatown on Gerrard Street get busier, and rooftop bars above the big stores open their terraces to the night. There is always somewhere to put the bags down and order a drink.

W1B 4DY on Regent Street is closest to the shops, its entrance a few steps from Piccadilly Circus. W1B 1JA, at the top of Regent Street on Portland Place, suits a guest who shops Oxford Street and prefers a calmer lobby. W1D 7DT hides in its own courtyard behind Great Windmill Street, WC2H 7DX rises above Leicester Square, WC2N 4HX sits a short walk east, and WC2R 0EZ waits at the bottom of the Strand, four minutes from the theatres.

We name them only as landmarks, and no hotel has an arrangement with London Babes. Serviced flats above the shops and private addresses in W1 and WC2 are visited on exactly the same footing.

Piccadilly Circus sits two minutes from the foot of Regent Street, served by Bakerloo and Piccadilly trains. Leicester Square, with the Northern and Piccadilly lines, is around 3 minutes from the cinemas, and Covent Garden station is a 6 minute walk east. Oxford Circus, at the top of Regent Street, is the one to avoid at six on a Saturday, when half of London is trying to get home with its parcels.

The simplest plan is a message sent from the fitting room: the girl you like, your hotel, the time you expect to be back and how many hours you want. Your full name, hotel and room are checked once on WhatsApp, and the desk replies with her name, the hour and the fare in writing, which is all the confirmation there is.

Count on about an hour from confirmation to most West End hotels, and longer on a December Saturday when the lights draw the crowds. She can meet you in the lobby, at a bar near the shops or at your door, and you give her the fare yourself once the two of you are together.

Five, the last hour at Liberty, then the bags sent up to the room. Seven, she meets you in the lobby of your hotel off Regent Street, and you walk the arcades together while they are still lit. Eight, a table at Brasserie Zédel below Piccadilly Circus, all mirrors and French classics at gentle prices. Ten, a drink on a terrace above Leicester Square with the cinema crowds far below, then a slow walk back as the shutters come down along Regent Street.

Priced as a dinner date the evening is £1,300 for four hours. If the shopping ran long and only supper remains, two hours are £750, and a single hour starts at £400.

Visitors on a shopping trip who have seen enough of their own reflection in the windows. Business travellers who spent the afternoon buying presents for home and would like the evening to be about themselves. Guests staying near Piccadilly in December, when the lights are up and dinner alone feels like a waste. They want a companion who can talk about something other than prices, knows which kitchens still take a table at ten and looks entirely at home carrying a Liberty bag.

Several companions live within a few streets. From Soho come Jasmin, who dances salsa and orders a cocktail with real conviction, Molly, all big dark waves and house music, and Tiffany, who rarely goes out without a camera. From Covent Garden come Tina, with a designer's eye for every coat in the room, Nancy, who laughs easily and adores sushi, and Karolina, who would happily trade the shops for an opera.

Every other girl on the girls page rides to the West End on the same fares.

West of Regent Street begins Mayfair and its galleries. The northern side of Oxford Street runs into Marylebone, Whitehall leads down from Trafalgar Square to Westminster, and the market halls of Covent Garden are a short walk east.