Barber shop at the heart of Fareham celebrates 100 years in business
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The barbers is a staple of Fareham’s main shopping street, West Street, and it celebrated its 100th anniversary this month.
The beloved business was founded by stalwart Norman Haines in 1921, it’s still going strong, run by his grandson Steve.
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Hide AdOwner Steve, 71, and his brother Roger, 65, have been barbers since they were teenagers.
Steve, from Lee-on-the-Solent, said: ‘For us barbering is not a job, it’s a vocation, the years have gone by too quickly, 100 years of running a business is all about friends, not clients.
‘It’s not always been easy, we are so grateful to our customers, during Covid we had eight months with not a penny coming in, we put money back into the business.
‘When we opened again we had 28 people waiting in the queue.’
Customers kept coming, Steve said.
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Hide AdHe said: ‘I didn’t have a lunch break for three weeks straight’.
However the pandemic forced Roger, from Stubbington, to revaluate and he retired due to health concerns.
He said: ‘I miss it terribly, it broke my heart to retire, I still wake up at 6am ready to open the shop.
‘The best thing about this job is talking to people, you could not print our memoirs after all the years we’ve had talking with people, we’d be in prison.
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Hide Ad‘What is said in the barber shop stays in the barber shop.’
Steve and Roger believe their quality and honesty has been what’s kept customers coming back.
Steve said: ‘The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is how to be diplomatic, we’ve seen all the haircuts over the years from hippies to peaky blinders.’
Roger said: ‘We can’t have a customer with a bad haircut because they are our walking advert for the next six weeks, so if a cut is not going to suit them we have to suggest it very nicely.’
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The business has always been family run; after founder Norman Haines senior died aged 52 in the 1940s, his son Norman Haines junior took over the business.
The shop was originally called Norman’s Barbers and was in Lake Road, Portsmouth, but when this area was redeveloped in 1956 it moved to Fareham’s West Street.
In 1995, the business was compulsory purchased again when the centre of Fareham was redeveloped, and Norman’s son Steve, grandson of Norman Haines senior, moved further down the road and opened Stephen’s Barbers in 1996, the shop they are still in today.
The pair work with Steve’s son Sean, 49, and long-standing member of staff Adam Stoker, and trainee Matt.
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Hide AdThey hope that Sean’s son Edward Harry, who is six, will also follow in the family tradition, despite not even having his hair cut yet.
The family have no plans on leaving their trade, however Steve said the biggest problem facing the industry is the lack of trained staff coming in.
Steve said he is grateful for all the support from his family and wife Jan, and his friends and customers over the years.
He said: ‘We want to say a big thank you to our customers over all the years.’
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Hide AdThey are planning a soiree in the shop to celebrate the anniversary with bubbly and a buffet.
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