Leicester barber believes future is bleak in event of second lockdown

By Samuel Gill

Among the industries to be hit the hardest by the Coronavirus pandemic is hair and beauty, especially in Leicester where the restrictions have lasted longest.

Leicester-based barber Cameron Hallam, who has owned Cameron’s Cutz since 2005, spoke to Leicestershire Press and believes that businesses closing is inevitable if a second lockdown or a circuit breaker is introduced.

“I feel that is in the air. I’ve just got the same anxious feeling. I’d not be surprised if they did this circuit breaker. I hope I’m wrong, I think it’s definitely possible,” said Hallam.

“The general government have got to support the local government to support the local business. If they do that in the right time frame which I doubt they will because it took a long time to get support when it went into lockdown before. If they don’t, you’ve got to start thinking, I can’t keep doing this.”

“There’s no furlough, that doesn’t exist for any small business or anyone like myself. You’re going to wander up high streets and you’re going to see places closing. The rent doesn’t go away.”

Hallam due to his reputation is often booked up but since the lockdown, his usual turnover has gone down and he believes there is a main reason for this.

“I would say it has impacted me up to 25% less than I’d usually take in turnover. If you look it across the board, people are doing less. I think people are worried for their jobs and their futures. I always think of a haircut as a luxury. It’s a treat because you want to feel good and look good. People are not going anywhere.”

Reopening was heavily impacted by a local lockdown for Leicester and he believes that as a city, they were treated poorly.

“That was probably the toughest thing from all of this for me personally. When they initially gave me the date of July 4 for Hair and Beauty to reopen, I thought ok I’ve got the date there, there’s a light at the end of it all. Then to get the local lockdown, that took the wing out of my sails that was tough,” he added.

“Psychologically that impacted me. I felt Leicester got done a bit as well. I feel we were a bit of a social experiment.”