text: For many women they are a lifestyle essential prone to a fair amount of wear and tear over time. But now well-heeled handbag lovers are paying as much as £200 to give their over-loved bags the equivalent of a spa treatment at a luxury new Handbag Clinic in Chelsea. The unusual boutique has opened on a fashionable west London high street to cater to the needs of well-heeled clientele who want to restore their bags to their former glory. Scroll down for video . Handbag lovers are paying as much as £200 to give their over-loved bags the equivalent of a spa treatment at a luxury new Handbag Clinic in Chelsea. Pictured: an Hermes bag (left) and a Mulberry (right) The Handbag Clinic has opened in Chelsea (pictured) to cater to the needs of well-heeled clientele who want to restore their bags to their former glory . Famous clients who have indulged in the luxury treatment include Imogen Thomas and Made in Chelsea stars Sophie Hermann and Stephanie Pratt. It was set up to rejuvenate high-end accessories in need of a face-lift or a quick repair. And amazingly, a trip to the handbag hospital is becoming more and more fashionable, even though the most treatment costs as much as £200. The company say they are now repairing bags worth £20,000 every day at the clinic on Kings Road in Chelsea London. They include briefcases and bags belonging to male clients. Grubby bags can be spruced-up through one of four available packages which offer everything from a thorough clean, to a fresh coat of colour or a layer of stain-preventing cream. Customers can even take out ‘stain cover’ cover for one handbag for £4.95 or 15 handbags for £19.95 per month. One customer has £100,000 worth of bags on the service. Famous clients who have indulged in the luxury treatment include Imogen Thomas (right( and Made in Chelsea star Stephanie Pratt (left) Customers can visit the new store Chelsea, in London, or simply post their bag to clinic. Prices are bespoke, depending on how stained or damaged a bag is, with costs for minor repairs starting at £24.95 and the average restoration costing £135. The company was set up after Ben Staerck, the director of leather repair company Furniture Clinic, noticed a surge in demand for specialist bag restoration. Mr Staerck said: ‘My father and I launched Furniture Clinic in 2004 to restore and repair heirloom and vintage pieces of leather furniture. ‘We soon found our customers were asking us if we could repair their high-end designer handbags because they couldn’t find a specialist handbag workshop they trusted to restore their high-value accessories. As the volume of bags requiring care continued to increase, we decided to form a company devoted exclusively to handbag repair. ‘Demand has soared for work on all types of bags from the likes of Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Hermes and Mulberry, particularly since the opening of our flagship Kings Road clinic. ‘Clients from across the world bring their bags with them for repair when they are visiting London, particularly from the US and the Middle East.’ The four available packages include a cleansing scrub where bags are fully cleaned inside and out, and a replenishment package to repair remove stains. More expensive services on offer include total rejuvenation, which also includes a complete coat of colour, and an age-defying service which coats bags with a protective cream to prevent future staining. The first clinic in Newcastle, and last month a second high street outlet opened on Chelsea’s fashionable Kings Road, in London. It is believed that women amass a haul of 111 handbags over the course of a lifetime. And the average well-used bag is thought to harbour enough filth to pose a risk to human health. Some startling research even found traces of E.coli, a poisonous bacteria, lurking at the bottom of some handbags. And another study even found that some are contaminated with more bacteria than the average toilet.
target: Customers are treating over-loved bags at Handbag Clinic in Chelsea .
  Set up to rejuvenate high-end accessories in need of a face-lift or repair .
  Company say they are now repairing bags worth £20,000 every day .
  Famous clients include Imogen Thomas and Made in Chelsea stars .