ALBERT  The Hairdresser. A resident pays tribute

I noticed as I was cycling past his shop on Durnsford Road in early December that Albert had passed on. The brown towel for security still hanging there to be taken down the next morning and the times outlining when the shop would be open.

One of the great joys of Albert's was that it was never a hair salon always a barber's shop and you always had a great experience while you were there, especially when there was a shop full of customers winding Albert up. I used to try and go for 8 am on a Saturday morning and would always be told it was going to be a slow day, then as one or two customers arrived. Albert would become concerned as he saw his days work increasing and would then complain that people should stagger their hair cuts, probably not aware of the hectic lives we now live.

Two very funny memories spring to mind. The first was when the door to the Barbers would not shut so it was fixed and would not open. Hence when people tried to get in the shop they couldn't so thought it was closed so Albert had to rush after them telling them it was open.

The second memory I have is of a very warm day with a crowd of people in the shop. A customer suggested they fired guns into the sky to bring rain. I pondered on this and found out later it was something they had done in the First World War.

Everyone sitting in the chair probably heard about the run in with tenants and the incident of the man who thought Albert was a German and therefore smashed his shop windows. I think the conversations about the decline of shops in Durnsford Road, the increase in the cost of things and the increase in council tax struck a cord with many of us.

It was good that he lived to see the painting of him cutting hair in 1999 come true; his style and  the shop had changed little from the photos of him cutting hair in the 1950s. People who remember back then say he was the last of a type of shopkeeper along Durnsford Road, though the man who sells me my paper at 7 am on Sunday I think keeps up a noble tradition.

Albert, thank you for always having time to give a good haircut and always having the time to do a good job though the shop was full. Also thank you for charging me pensioner's rate even when I was in my 30's. I look forward to you cutting my hair in the great Barber's shop in the sky, where life will be less busy than it is now.