Britain’s longest serving barber says he has no plans to hang up his scissors yet – after nearly 65 YEARS of cutting hair. Melvin Eley, 76, is at the barber shop he joined in 1961 and still charges old-fashioned prices more than six decades later. He started working at the shop on Richmond Road in Stetchford, Birmingham, as a Saturday boy aged 13 and has remained there ever since. The great-grandad-of-six works 20 hours a week and says he’ll keep going for as long as he physically can – despite pleas from his children to retire. Melvin started as a teenager under the leadership of the shop’s previous owner Tony East before buying out the business in 1982. He has gone on to trim hundreds of thousands of fringes at Melvin’s Gentleman’s Hairdresser, including those of footballers, politicians and musicians. Melvin prides himself on keeping things traditional – as well as a timewarp interior he’s kept his prices at just £8 per trim and only offers haircuts, no beard work or shaves. And the dad-of-four says he’s had no formal training and learnt all he knew from his old boss.
