The real Age Before Beauty
AFFAIRS, dodgy business dealings and sibling feuds
– it’s all going on in new BBC drama Age Before Beauty.
The show, starring Sue Johnston, Polly Walker, James Murray, Robson Green, Kelly Harrison and Lisa Riley, follows the ups and downs of the Mirrorbel salon in Manchester city centre, run by Bel and her sisters, where family rows, rivalries and simmering tensions threaten to bubble over.
But the city has a real-life version, salon House of Evelyn, where everyone is the best of friends though they admit there is no shortage of day-to-day dramas.
The salon is run by Evelyn and Georgina, with Georgina’s two nieces and a team of stylists offering hair, beauty, massage, make-up and Botox treatments all under one roof.
The busy salon boasts a whole host of celebrity clients, including Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan and Corrie stars Kym Marsh, Faye Brooks, Brook Vincent, Victoria Ekanoye and Bhavna Limbachia.
But it isn’t just celebs who frequent the salon – the staff have a loyal base of ordinary clients, and many have become firm friends.
Evelyn Cong, 29, arrived in Manchester from China eight years ago to realise her dream of opening a luxury salon. She teamed up with Georgina Barnes, 53, as her general manager – and House of Evelyn was born.
With no family of her own in the UK, Georgina and the rest of the staff soon became her second family, and Evelyn even brought Georgina’s nieces Liv and Tash in as receptionist and PA.
It’s a salon full of strong, flamboyant characters – just like the Mirrorbel salon – which can lead to clashes. But unlike the TV show, they are determined not to let any petty rows affect their personal lives. Georgina says: “When
Robson, Polly, Kelly and James Tash and Liv started working here, I was very clear that anything that went on at work wasn’t to spill over into family life.
“We are a great team here, but there are dramas – usually relationship dramas. Someone has always got a problem with a husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend.
“My door is always open for them though – they call me the salon’s Big Mamma.”
But it isn’t just the staff with problems – often the clients feel that the only people they can confide in about their own issues is their hairdresser or beauty therapist.
Hair stylist and assistant manager Lee Marsh, 37, explains: “You get to know everything about your clients – affairs, people being kicked out, weight problems.
“But they know they can trust us – client confidentiality is key.”
In Age Before Beauty, viewers saw salon owner Bel find out her husband Wes was having an affair with his personal trainer, while her mum Ivy-rae ditched dad Chizzler for her new beau Hector.
But that doesn’t raise an eyebrow with Lee who has heard it all before. He says: “At a salon I used to work at Evelyn, top, and Emilie Lee, Scott and Arron
we actually had to sneak one woman out of the back door with a towel over her head as the wife of the man she was having an affair with was in there at the same time.”
Receptionist Liv Brown, 19, and her sister Tash, 24, the PA, are like chalk and cheese – just as in Age Before Beauty where Leanne is the ditzy one and Bel is the sensible one. But unlike TV, Liv and Tash are the best of friends.
Liv, who is also studying law at university, laughs: “We are definitely opposites! I’m really disorganised, whereas Tash is on top of things. I always know Tash will sort stuff out – she is a lot calmer than me.”
Tash says: “Working with family is good, but expectations are higher for us. We have to have that family loyalty.”
Hair stylist Arron says his relationship is always a big topic of conversation in the salon. He says: “They are like my agony aunts in here though. I don’t think I would cope without them.”
Make-up artists and beauty therapists Aoife Taggart, Nina Bailey and Emilie Cunliffe – daughter of Corrie star Kym Marsh – love being part of the team.
Emilie, 20, says: “I’ve never worked anywhere like this where everyone really is like family.”
Manager and hair stylist Scott Meadows, 31, says everyone in the salon has their own role: “Olivia is scatty, Arron is dramatic, Emilie is the comedian, Tash is straight-laced, Georgina is outspoken, Lee is loud, Aoife is the new girl trying to find her feet and Evelyn is like everyone’s mother hen.
“I think it’s because we are all so different that we get on. We do have little tiffs, but it is never anything big. We do have a great laugh.”
You get to know all about your clients, but they always know they can trust us with their secrets