Once upon a time - we imagine – office workers paused work in the middle of the day for long, languid lunch breaks with three-course meals and cognacs.

But nowadays, we’re fortunate if we can squeeze in a rushed avocado wrap from the deli next door.

The erosion of the lunch break is a sad fact of modern times, and a recent study has brought home just how much we sacrifice by not taking time out.

The average Briton spends just 34 minutes on a break in the middle of the day, research by flexible working space firm Workthere has found. As Refinery29 points out, that equates to 12 days a year that we’re effectively handing to our employers on a plate. Entirely for free.

The survey of 2,000 office workers discovered that – surprise, surprise - Londoners are least likely to take a lunch hour, followed by employees in Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich.

Depressingly, office workers eat lunch at their desk on average four days per week and even when they do take a break, they often don’t leave the office – 37 percent say they rarely go outside.

Why you really need to start taking lunch breaks at work