New city salon set up by award-winning businessmen

Tony Wood and Liam Fry, the brains behind Tony Wood Hairdressing and the Barbership in Castle Road, have transformed the former Toni & Guy unit in the Portsmouth shopping centre into a funky salon.

They have opened their new venture – Your Hairdressers – in the hope of bringing a change to the way hairdressing salons operate.

Tony, who won Business Personality of the Year in The News Business Excellence Awards, said: ‘It is just like any other salon, but all the people who work here are self-employed

‘Instead of being employed and taking a wage, they get 60 per cent of what they turn over.

‘It’s more than that, it’s not just about money. One of the key concepts to it is there’s education involved as well.

‘So the hairdressers who come and work for us don’t just stand still. We have an education zone upstairs where they can learn, enter awards and progress in their careers as well as earning really good money.’

Tony Wood Hairdressing and the Barbership in Castle Road won a host of awards at the Hair and Beauty Awards, run by The News, last year.

Both venues, which are next door to each other, have proved incredibly popular – The Barbership, which opened in 2016, won the Readers’ Choice award by a landslide.

This success has prompted the pair to look at other ways to change the face of hairdressing.

Liam said: ‘The salon has been designed to be as successful as possible. It’s designed with the stylists in mind, as if it doesn’t work for them then it won’t work for us.

‘We want to see it as busy as possible. From my own personal experience of being a hairdresser for 16 years, it’s not just about the money, education is really key. It’s about personal growth.’

Tony said he hopes to expand the Your Hairdressers brand further by working with colleges, once it has been established in Portsmouth.