ALTHOUGH a Merseyside barber business regularly attracts football and rugby stars, the staff are most proud of their "family-style atmosphere" and training of the next generation.
First launching in Liverpool city centre in 2015, Barbers No 1 has quietly evolved to become one of the leading barbers in the north west, with 15 shops and a star-studded clientele that includes Liverpool, Everton, and Manchester United footballers, as well as rugby league stars from St Helens, Wigan, and Warrington.
Committed to high-quality haircuts, the success of each shop has allowed the Barbers No 1 team to "build up and up" over the past nine years, with the St Helens store opening on Bridge Street in 2015.
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After developing the barbers' reputation around Merseyside, the football connection began after a bold staff member handed former Liverpool player Roberto Firmino a flyer when he briefly stopped outside one of the city stores.
Once the Brazilian returned and was happy with his trim, he recommended the business to his teammates and Barbers No 1 has since worked with players such as Jordan Henderson, Andy Robertson, Harvey Elliott, Darwin Nunez, among many more.
Some barbers have even visited player's houses to deliver a personal trim, while others have been invited to cut the hair of English, Scottish, and Brazilian national teams.
Inevitably, pictures with Premier League and Super League players draws a lot of attention towards Barbers No 1, which now has more than 80,000 followers on Instagram, but as Sam Evans says, the fact that these players consistently return and recommend underlines the quality of their work.
Sam, Barbers No 1 area manager based in St Helens, said: "The players coming in has obviously really helped us as a business, because we can use this to grow on social media.
"But it also means that we have to consistently keep our quality up, for the players that are coming in, but also for our regular customers and people who may have seen us on social media.
"Barbering is a lot about trust, so whether it's a footballer or rugby player or anyone else, they return to a barber who they trust and feel comfortable with, and I think we have done that really well with that."
While Barbers No 1's famous clients have helped to grow the business' reputation, the staff are particularly proud of the Academy arm of the business, which trains the next generation of barbers.
With three Academies, including one above the Bridge Street store, the team deliver a 12 week training course to teach the highest standard of barbering, with the guarantee of work experience and a potential job offer at the conclusion of the course.
"We see the Academy as not just offering someone a job, but offering them a career path", Sam added.
"We are investing in each person's future, and over time it's so nice to see young lads coming through this course, getting a job, and even owning one of our new stores.
"We always like to get together and go out for team meals and nights out, so we see the business as a real family-style environment, where everyone looks out for each other.
"We're really happy with how things are progressing, and the business and academy just seem to be getting better and better."
With three more barber shops in the pipeline, and long-term goals to expand the business overseas, St Helens Barbers No 1 is open seven days a week.
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