Thirty years of Lancaster hair and beauty salon - and plenty more to come

Graham Cass, who set up the salon in 1996 with Jo Ireland, said: “We’ve seen so many changes in this profession.

“When Jo and I started clients would come to the salon every week to have their hair set, can you imagine?!

“Then there were cap highlights and perms; we used to do at least three perms a day – now it’s more like three a year!

“In 1996 we thought we could take hairdressing to the next level – we opened our first salon with just Jo and I.

“Then Julie came, then Louise, and by the end of the year we were 16 strong and growing like my waistline!

“We decided we needed premises to match the team so we bought Sterling House on Dalton Square and Mains Business Supplies on Great John Street.

“At the time this was the biggest salon in England. We put a lift in to the beauty department, and it had its own kids’ salon specifically for children!

“We had the first Costa Coffee franchise in salon with all clients getting complimentary Costa Coffees.

“We did the five step consultation, with all staff trained to look at face shapes, hair growth patterns and do in depth consultation to find out what you really wanted."

The salon later expanded to open venues in Preston, Kendal and Morecambe.

“By the end of that year we had a 65 strong team,” said Graham, “and what a team” We were the first official 5 star salon in the Good Salon Guide and won many awards.

“To provide the best skills, we have our own in-salon academy run by Jamie and Andrew Curtis, who have their main academy in London, training the top salons’ future stars, and Andrew works in a London top salon doing many celebrities in London and around the world too, which he brings to our team!

“We have a training budget and all our staff go on external regular training courses and we have team meetings every week to share ideas – we bounce off each other.

“So, 30 years on we’ve got the best team we have ever had. Every day is fun, and we keep moving forward.”