'Our hairdressers have been a key community service during the pandemic' - view from Kibworth on the how local businesses have gone that extra mile during Covid-19

A Harborough district villager has poured praise on her local Good Samaritans hairdressers amid the Covid-19 outbreak as she declared – we are very lucky to have them.

Teresa Lewis, 59, said that Julie and Ian Clarke, who run Julian’s Hair Styles in Kibworth Beauchamp, are much more than just another stalwart High Street business striving to bounce back.

She said the well-liked couple are actually providing a key “community service” during the coronavirus pandemic which has turned 2020 upside down.

“I’ve been going to Julian’s for the last seven years or so, I’ve got to know Ian and Julie very well and I can’t speak highly enough of them.

“They have been here at the heart of Kibworth for the last 26 years cutting people’s hair and making them happy,” said Teresa, who lives nearby.

“But their contribution and importance to all of us in Kibworth goes far beyond that.

“They do so much for local people here that they carry out a vital community service.

“When they were able to re-open back in July after the first lockdown Julie actually went out to visit elderly clients in their own homes.

“A lot of older and more vulnerable people were too nervous to go into the salon as they usually would.

“So Julie went to see them and did their hair as well as giving them priceless human contact and catching up with them.

“Ian is a master barber working tirelessly from dawn to dusk every day.

“I know that this has been a very tough year for everyone.

“But Ian and Julie have gone out of their way, gone that extra mile, to look after people and make sure that they are coping all right in these very difficult days,” said Teresa, a mum-of-two.

“They have made the most of this recent lockdown to carry out a top-to-bottom renovation and reinvent their salon.

“It’s looking magnificent - their investment into PPE gowns, towels and screens is second to none.

“They are committed to keeping both their staff and clients as safe as possible.

“Julie used to go out to local care homes to do the hair of ladies before we were locked down last March.

“They have come through a lot of tough times such as recessions over the last quarter of a century and they are still going strong.

“We need the tenacity, experience, know-how and sheer dedication of people like Ian and Julie as our local businesses in Kibworth try to bounce back from this awful year,” said Teresa, whose husband Steve, 61, and two sons Jack, 23, and Oliver, 19, also go to the salon.

“The couple deserve all the recognition they can muster.

“They are such modest, humble people – and we are very lucky to have them here in Kibworth.

“They have built up an army of loyal customers – some of whom have been going since the day they opened.

“Julie and Ian have taken a real hit from Covid.

“But they take a real pride in their business, they genuinely care for local people and they bring such a feelgood spirit to the whole of Kibworth.”

Hairdresser Ian, 52, said: “We are so fortunate to have customers like Teresa who think the world of us.

“Over 60 people got in touch with us in a 90-minute burst on Monday night asking us to book them in next week when we re-open.

“It’s an amazing reaction and very humbling.

“I tell all our new employees when they join us that hairdressing is just part of what we do here.

“Caring for people is so important – and that’s what we strive to do all the time, but especially in a tough year like this one.”