Barber parting company with business

AT his estimate of 100 haircuts a week, Ali Brosnan could have done 200,000 haircuts in his 42 years as the owner of Ali Brosnan Family Hair Care.

He had not kept counts but there had been ‘‘lots of haircuts’’ after four decades as a Lower Thames St business owner.

Mr Brosnan (63), known to some as the unofficial mayor of Oamaru, has sold his business and the salon will become Vivo Hair Salon.

He and the current staff will remain, but Mr Brosnan said he was ‘‘getting to that stage of life’’ where he wanted to focus on ‘‘trying to lower my golf handicap’’.

Former All Black props Kees Meeuws and Carl Hoeft had graced his chair, as had four generations of Oamaru’s Inkersell and Meikle families.

As Mr Brosnan was a business owner who put the people in his barber’s chair first, meeting ‘‘lots of good people’’ had been what kept him happy in his work for so long.

‘‘A lot of people come to you for what you think and a lot of advice — you end up a counsellor, like, you’re dealing with family issues, sometimes you’re the only port of call for them, the only person they talk to. You’re pretty privileged, what a lot of people talk to you about.’’

He had seen a lot in his shop, too. One client died and then ‘‘came back to life’’ about 30 years ago, he said.

‘‘I called the ambulance and he came back to life. That’s probably the most scary thing,’’ he said.

‘‘Whether it was the thought of the haircut, or the thought of paying for it, I’m not sure. But he picked up again and away he went; he was away laughing.’’

Mr Brosnan recalled evacuating when, in 1995, fire destroyed The Warehouse, which at the time was his Lower Thames St neighbour.

Connections to the community brought him many regular customers over the years: Mr Brosnan has spent 16 years on the Oamaru Licensing Trust, and is its chairman; he was heavily involved with junior rugby, and after a short stint as a senior rugby player, he became a life member of Excelsior Rugby Club; and in later life he played a lot of squash.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

PHOTO: HAMISH MACLEAN Ali the barber . . . Lower Thames St mainstay Ali Brosnan cuts Ian Moore’s hair yesterday afternoon. Mr Brosnan has sold his shop after 42 years of business.