Luxury nurseries that offer services for stressed working parents as well as their children are springing up across the country.

Canny day-care managers have spotted a gap in the market and now offer to do dry-cleaning and ironing at the same time as caring for babies and toddlers. Some will accept all the family’s children at one time, then drop the older ones off at school. Others prepare fresh baby food for sale, or have a visiting children’s hairdresser. Entrepreneurs behind luxury nurseries believe that the market is so competitive that hundreds of centres will have to provide parentcare as well as childcare or risk losing business.

The revolution is being led by Kids Allowed, a small chain of nurseries around Manchester set up by a working mother who could not find a nursery that provided what she needed (care for a baby and school-age daughter at the same time). Kids Allowed says that it caters for the whole family. Parents can drop off ironing, laundry and dry-cleaning with the “Parent Concierge” in reception, and arrange a babysitter at the in-house agency.

Jennie Johnson, a former IT marketing executive and co-founder of Kids Allowed, said: “I believe we are leading a revolution. The key thing is that we take a holistic view of the family’s requirements. We have asked what do a mum, a dad, a baby and an older sibling need to make their lives less hassle, and provide it.

“Parents do not need to bring food, nappies, wipes or formula milk and bottles. It makes leaving the house in the morning an awful lot easier.”

At the end of the day two staff are always working late for parents who get stuck in traffic or at the office.

Other nurseries are heading in that direction. The Kids Academy group in Warrington brings in a children’s hairdresser every six weeks and a shoe shop to measure children’s feet. Parents said that these were the things they struggled to fit in at the weekend.

A chef comes in once a week to make fresh baby food, which is frozen and sold in reception. There are also regular mums’ evenings when a hairdresser, beautician and perfumer come in to the nursery. “We survey parents about what they would like to see and they made it clear these were the sorts of things they wanted, and for us they are easy to provide,” Kerry Eccles, the operations manager, said.

Smallworld nursery in Brechin, Angus, has just won an award for its parent-focused service. It offers a “school run” for older children who are walked or driven to and from school by nursery staff so that parents have to make only one drop-off. Lynn Dean, Smallworld’s founder, also opens from 7.30am to accommodate parents who had to start work early. The nursery provides breakfast.

The National Day Nurseries Association said that extra services at nurseries were becoming more commonplace, although the amount that parents could afford was a constraint. “Evidence shows that nurseries are keen to respond to the needs of parents and many are already offering extra services,” Purmina Tanuku, the association’s chief executive, said.

“But many parents are paying as much as they can for their childcare already. It remains to be seen whether this becomes the norm.”

Ms Johnson said that Kids Allowed had to charge above-average fees, which she regretted. “I had wanted to be able to offer all this at a low cost. We have done our best and charge £44 a day for childcare, including nappies and food, which is a London rate, above the average round here which is about £35,” she said. There are additional charges for extra services.

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