CHRIS

Derby
18 May 2004

How are you?

BD. I’m ok. I take it you’re from Derby originally?

Yes.

BD. And did you start being a barber straight from school?

1962. The last day of December 1962. I was an apprentice to a hairdresser called Cyril Elkington. He was a member of the National Hairdressers Federation right up until he died, I think it was October 2002. And I was with him for twenty years until I took over his business. The NHF were an association for hairdressers and they had competitions and your apprentiship was registered with them. Quite a well-run organisation.

BD. And does it have an existence now?

Yes it still exists. So I set up on my own October the 3rd 1981 at my old original shop. I started with the hairdressing when my old boss retired and at the same time we started with the bookshop.

BD. Are you aware of any other barbers in the country that is a barbers and a bookshop? Or even a railway bookshop?

I don’t know of any other. It was one of these situations that came about, now accidentally, but a friend of mine in Crewe had a rather nice bookshop and it incorporated a general store and I’d always fancied doing something similar and when I took over my first hairdressing business I then decided to put the books in it. And the rest is now history. The only change that did happen was in 1986 when I finished at my old shop and then in 1988 I came down here. Because of the space that we have got we have created the bookshop at the back and incorporated some of it in here as well. I’ve been interested in railways since about 1952.

Derby is the headquarters of the Midland Railway and then of course taken over by the London and Scottish, the LMS and then finally British Railways until privatisation again in the early 1990’s.

They made carriages at the Carriage and Wagon. Good quality as well. This was the headquarters of the Midland Railway in Derby and everything rotated from it.

BD. The other thing that I noticed in here is the collection of cameras.

Ah. Well, there-in lies a story. I was having a conversation one day with a customer and we were talking about old photographs and I said I regretted getting rid of my old Browny box camera. The next time he came in he brought me a Browny box camera. I put it on the shelf and somebody else said I’ve got one of those and brought it in. Ever since then my collection has just gone on and on.

BD. What, is it just customers bringing them in?

Just customers bringing them in. so if you look up on the top to your right there are various cameras up there.

BD. But it wasn’t like you had a big interest in cameras or anything, it was just a passing comment.

Yes. I do enjoy photography but it’s only for personal collections. The interesting picture that’s in the shop is the one directly behind you on the wall. It’s a local group called Light Year and last year they  released a CD and they named it after my shop after one of them came in for a hair cut and he was that smit with the name of the shop that when they released the CD they called it after the shop. And there’s a photograph of the shop on the front cover of the CD.

BD.  This shop wasn’t a barbers when you got it then?

For many many years it was a general store. It has been all sorts of shops in its time. It has been a ladies hairdressers.

BD. What’s this box here?

It’s an old sterilizer. Its one of the old sterilizers I’ve had since I was an apprentice. Still works. It sterilizes the hairdressing equipment. If you feel you need to clean anything you would put it in the sterilizer. Originally you would put liquid in a tray at the bottom inside and there’s a light bulb and a bar that coils the light bulb and the heat evaporates the moisture. They have progressed a little bit more than that but I keep that there more for ornament than anything else. Still works and that’s got to be 50 years old.

BD. And why the collection of scissors?

Ah. They’re all used. They are all what I have inherited over the years. I’ve been very  fortunate, or unfortunate for the person that has passed away, but they have all left me their scissors. I use them all over a period of time. I have a gentleman from Leicester who sharpens them for me. He comes over and I’ll find four or five pairs and he’ll sharpen them for me. All the ones at this end are in good condition for cutting, and they’re all ready for sharpening again.

BD. Why did you decide to be a hairdresser?

I think at the time it was a job that I fancied doing and I’ve stuck at it ever since.

BD. You didn’t fancy getting a job within the rail industry?

Not really no, I’d have liked to have worked on the railway but looking back now I have had forty -two years of hairdressing.