Family-run The Barber Shoppe, Newark Market Place, adapts to new normal because of coronavirus

A family barber shop that has been in business for 20 years is adapting to a new normal because of coronavirus.

The Barber Shoppe in Newark Market Place is owned by Peter West ­— who has never cut anyone’s hair in his life.

Builder Peter, who already had a business in Holbeach, opened the Newark salon in 2000 with his parents, Peter and Marian West.

There is also a salon in Sutton-in-Ashfield, where his mother lives. His father died in 2013.

Peter said the spacious Newark shop, with its separate waiting and cutting areas, had made it relatively easy to meet coronavirus regulations.

Many staff are long-standing, and include Peter’s niece Joy Franklin.

Peter said people were beginning to return to the shop, although some older customers were still nervous.

The popularity of traditional men’s barbering had been one of the biggest recent trends, Peter said, with skin fades another favourite.