Three chairs, four barbers. Ask for anyone by name, or take the first free chair.
Chair 01 · Master barber
Sol Mensah has cut hair for twenty-five years and opened Kempt on Tanner Row in 2012. Scissor work and the hot-towel shave, mostly for men who have sat in chair 01 since it was new.
Chair 02 · Barber
Danny Kerr joined in 2019 from a busy town-centre shop. Skin fades, tapers and the odd design, blended with three guards and a lot of patience.
Chair 03 · Barber
Reza Amini has worked with a straight razor for twelve years. Beards, thick or curly hair, and shaves that take as long as they need.
Chair 03 · Wed eve · Apprentice, second year
Kit Lowe is in the second year of an apprenticeship with Sol. On Wednesday evenings Kit takes chair 03 for £12 cuts, and Sol checks every one before you leave.
“Of a thousand shavers, two do not shave so much alike as not to be distinguished.”
Three hydraulic chairs that lie back for shaves, a mirror each, a kettle and the radio. On every station a jar of blue Barbicide with that barber's combs in it.
Barbicide was invented in 1947 by Maurice King, and every barber keeps their own jar. One sits in the Smithsonian; ours sit next to the clippers.