RAZOR SHARP

Combining cuts and craft!There’s a basement takeover at Denny’s Place.

WWW.DENNYSPLACE.CO.UK

2022 is a special year for Denny’s Place Barbers in Grosvenor Road, marking 22 years of trading. Second generation proprietor, Storm, is bringing more than just hair cuts to the area, with a resident crafting company moving in on the lower level.

“14 Arrows Tattoos used to occupy the downstairs area of the barbers shop, and they’ve moved up the road to bigger premises, which we wholeheartedly support and congratulate them on - but that’s left the space empty, and we wanted to find someone that would fit the space, and we came across Hettie asking on Facebook for a room to run craft workshops from GOSH events from. If the space can be used and used well, and looked after, then that’s ideal.

For the first 13 years of Denny’s Place, it was my dad running things and I took over when he passed, so I’ve managed the business for 8 years. Overall it’s an incredible milestone to get to, we’re probably one of the oldest businesses in Tunbridge Wells town centre now to have survived this long, so it is a real privilege, and we’re quite humbled by it.

We still have customers who have been coming for 22 years, and we’ve seen their lives progress and grow, we’ve been there for the good, the bad, the terrible, the amazing - they’re our friends. The relationships we’ve built over that time is what we pride ourselves on. When you go to a barbers, the one expectation is that you will get your hair cut, and we can guarantee you that, but we’re not just a barbers shop, we’re a family.

Since I’ve taken over we’ve revamped, and I love my shop, I think it’s gorgeous! There’s still work to do but we’re getting there - I’d love to know

what my dad would have thought of it as our styles were very different.

We’d wanted to celebrate our 20th anniversary, but... something happened! And then it was the 21st birthday, but Covid was still there - so we do feel as though we’ve left it a bit too long now to mark the occasion. I did say I would do something small and intimate for the people who have always supported the shop, but with Denny’s Fest every year, it’s hard making the time to get together.

The achievement of Denny’s Fest (an annual charitable live music event) is something we hold dear to our hearts, and to do something like that, not only in memory of my dad and his legacy, but for our community, it’s amazing, we love it. Last year afterwards we had a barbeque for everyone involved, and it was so nice to say thank you, and regroup, and talk about what we’d done. So maybe we’ll add a bit of extra pizzazz to that this year to mark the fact that we’re 22.

Tunbridge Wells has been good to us, and we hope it continues to be good to us!” ■

www.dennysplace.co.uk

THE TEAM AT GOSH EVENTS OPERATE FROM THE LOWER LEVEL.