MOP STOPPED
Barber who once cut Paul McCartney’s hair retires after 65 years
BARBER Brian Higgins faces an emotional parting as he retires after 65 years’ work.
Aged 79, he can look back and estimate he has done at least 500,000 haircuts, including Paul McCartney’s iconic mop top in the 60s.
Brian began at 14 cutting hair for friends. Some of his customers today have been with him for six decades. The dad-oftwo said: “I don’t know anybody who has been serving longer as a continuous barber. I’ve cut the hair of parents, their children and then their grandchildren.
“That has been one of the best things about the job. I’ve seen young boys become grown men, chatting about all sorts.
“Some compare a hairdresser to a priest – it’s where man comes to confess sin.”
Brian had been cutting hair freelance for five years when he asked for work at Skan’s barber’s shop in Worcester. He so impressed the owner with his skills that he was offered a job on the spot.
In 1968 he took over the shop with a business partner. Brian is known locally as “the man with the flying scissors”. He explained: “One day a customer said to me, ‘I’m not in a hurry.’ That’s when I twigged some people thought I was working too fast. I said to him, ‘This is the way I work. If I slow down it won’t be as good.’”
In May 1963 Brian met his most famous customer when The Beatles performed in Worcester while their hit From Me To You was at No1. He said: “The four Beatles came into the shop. I can’t remember what Paul talked about but he was a nice lad with no airs or graces. He was on his way up then.
“His hair was very long. It was hard to find a barber that could cut hair like that. I’d learned to cut ladies’ hair in my apprenticeship so I knew how to.”
Widower Brian, who has four grandchildren, believes cutting hair has become simpler but more time consuming.
He said: “In the early days I cut 35 to 40 heads a day. It has gone down because of expectations. They want you to take more time. They don’t want to feel you are rushing through them. The style is very short these days and it is easy work.”
He took the “extremely sad” decision to retire to protect himself against coronavirus.