Cheers to reopening of pubs
Hairdressers report full books for the next few weeks as clients return after months
PUBS, restaurants and hairdressers were able to open for the first time in more than three months on Saturday as the coronavirus lockdown restrictions were eased. Venues have introduced new safety procedures including one-way systems, hand sanitiser and staff wearing masks as social distancing measures are maintained at a minimum of one metre plus.
Police reported a fairly quite and peaceful first weekend with pubs and bars in Newbury town centre closing by midnight.
THE clippers were dusted off and scissors sharpened as hairdressers across the district reopened for the first time in three months at the weekend.
The much-anticipated opening of hair salons and barbers on Saturday saw queues outside some businesses, while many others report full appointment books until August.
The large majority have worked tirelessly in recent weeks, and at great expense, to ensure their businesses were safe and ready to open and they are all very happy to be back trading again.
The owner of Hungerford salon Montagues Hair Design, Lesley Bradley, said the weekend opening had been “brilliant”.
“It went really well and it was great to have all of our customers back,” she said.
“It was a bit strange with us all wearing PPE, but it worked well and we have really enjoyed it.
“We are booked up until August now and I’m working seven days a week and longer hours to just catch up at the moment.
“Everyone is being so patient, though, and we are just happy to be back.”
But the Covid-19 pandemic has curtailed the salon’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
The party it had planned for tomorrow (Friday) will have to wait until next year now.
J.A.M Hair Studio, on Newbury’s Cheap Street, had been preparing for Saturday’s reopening for several weeks – buying facemasks, installing screens at the till and putting social distancing stickers on the floor.
Owner James Morrant said it was great to be back.
“Everyone has had really positive feedback,” he said.
“The clients seem very happy with what we are doing.
“I am booked up until August now and most of the girls have no appointments available for a few weeks either.
“Even the gents are booking appointments now and we are working longer hours to make up for being closed.
“It’s been really lovely to get back.”
Scott Cowham, who runs Bravo Hair in Cheap Street, also said the opening weekend had been a great success for him.
“We’ve had lots of positive feedback from the guests coming in, and we feel like some normality is returning,” he said.
“The health and safety aspect is quite stressful from an employee side and the face shields are quite hard to work with while doing detailed work, but we are just cracking on and doing our best.”
The lockdown came into force two weeks before Tracy Radcliffe was meant to open Refine Hair in Thatcham High Street.
She was finally able to open on Saturday and said: “We’ve just been so busy.
“We were meant to open in April, I’d just got this new salon and I couldn’t open it.
“It’s frustrating when you’re paying rent and you can’t open.”
Ms Radcliffe said she was fully booked until August 1 and her two stylists were “pretty much fully booked as well”.
She said that she would be working without a day off for the next two weeks to help get through all the appointments.
Ms Radcliffe said her clients were “absolutely ecstatic” and had been amazing, one so much that she couldn’t sleep.
“She said ‘I couldn’t sleep all last night because I was worried I wouldn’t wake up for my hair appointment and I’d miss it’. It was like a kid at Christmas.”
Ms Radcliffe said the Government had not provided proper guidelines for hairdressers.
She said: “All they have told us is we need to leave the door open and wear a mask.
“All hairdressers are afraid we’re going to get something wrong, I was really paranoid.”
Another person in the industry has voiced concerns that not everyone is following the Government’s guidelines.
In a letter to the Newbury Weekly News, one barbershop owner – who asked not to be named – said they were disappointed by some businesses they saw “clearly prioritising profit over health”.
The letter said: “I am disappointed by the high number of barbers in the town ignoring the clear rules laid out by Government – namely visors are mandatory and all cuts must be by appointment, not walk-ins.
“It makes a mockery of those of us who have spent time and money working out how to operate safely, as well as having reduced footfall imposed by the appointment-only system.
“I just hope customers have the good sense to have their cuts in reputable shops where their safety is as much a concern as the contents of their wallets.”