Penny is new barber

The barbershop in Sidley Street is under new management and is no longer the male bastion of old.

Penny Denwood is now in charge and she has already been making changes.

She will run the business with two friends, and like her they are both single mothers.

Penny decided to start her own business to provide for herself and daughter Summer May and having trained as a hairdresser it all fell into place when she began working at Ed's Barber and the owner decided to leave.

She took over the premises and has been working hard to get ready, having re-floored, re-plastered and rewired throughout, helped by customers she met through work.

Penny said: "I trained and worked as a hairdresser for 15 years, since I was 16. That was all aspects of hairdressing, but I prefer to do men's hair. I feel I am better at it and I just enjoy it more. I find it more technical, because you can see if there is any mistake...if hair is longer you can hide it more. My customers are any age-group, from aged two right up to my oldest guy who is 98."

Penny has already built up a customer base from when she was working at Ed's Barber and was encouraged to keep it just for men.

"It was already set up here and worked really well as a business - there was no point changing it. I spoke to guys who came in and they said - keep it as it is, we like coming in to relax...with no women sitting around having their hair done. Those were the precise words. It was the older ones that said that."Men are easier to get on with though - they know exactly what they want most of the time, and come in and say exactly what they want."

As a female barber she met with some resistance at first but comments: "They quite like it now. They were a bit iffy to start with and said they only like men cutting their hair. But the girls - Kim and Debbie - just tease the older guys so they are quite happy when they walk away. It puts a smile on their face."