A 45-YEAR-OLD family hair salon in Oakley has been selected as the Basingstoke Gazette and Andover Advertiser Hairdresser of the year.

Hair Beauty at 16 Meon Road has been selected after getting the most votes from the public.

Bradley Uren, who runs the business, said he feels very lucky and proud.

“We are deeply chuffed with the award,” the 41-year-old said.

“But to be honest, it is down to our clients who voted for us.

“We are very honoured and very lucky.”

Hair Beauty was started in June 1976 by Bradley’s parents Raymond and Anona Uren.

Bradley started working at the salon in 1994 when he was only 14.

“I started working here just as a Saturday lad earning money,” Bradley said.

“Then I went to college after that and progressed onto running the business since 2005.

“My dad and mum still work here a couple of days a week. They are very sociable people, and they can’t give up as they like to chat.”

Hair Beauty now has a team of 10 staff.

Bradley is married and his wife works in the video game industry.

Although Hair Beauty has been busy since it reopened after the pandemic, the lockdown has not been easy for the salon, which had to struggle along with hairdressers across the country.

“We remained closed for nine months during that period,” Bradley recalled.

“It was tough obviously, but since we have been here for a long time, it helped. We were lucky because we got our loyal and large customers back as soon as we reopened. And when we came back to work, we were super busy.

“We also gained more customers since reopening as more people are working from home and they all come to the local hairdressers for a haircut.”

The staff was also furloughed under the government scheme during the pandemic. But Bradley made sure they had a WhatsApp group and the staff were kept in touch and everyone was ok.