Walking down Winchester Street recently, I was amazed by the number of hairdressing businesses there are. This is obviously something that you can’t get online! Herberts in Winchester Street is well worth a mention as the business is 90 years old this year! Originally Herberts salon was situated at Mitre House in the High Street and in 1930, Mr. Gilbert White bought the business for £50.00! Interviewed in 1980, Mr White said: “People preferred to go forward for their hair to be washed. When we introduced two basins for the back wash, they didn’t get used for years. Some people have been coming to us for 40 years and they still want to go forward for their hair to be washed”.

Back in the 1920s when Mr White first began working as a hairdresser, women used to pay five guineas in gold to have permanent waving - the whole process taking four hours. He came to Salisbury looking for a place where the trade would not fluctuate so much from season to season leaving behind a business on the east coast. Mr White continued: “I got tired of working like heck in the summer months. We’d work hammer and tongs until September ”. During WW2 when things were tight Mr. White made all his own perm lotion and even lipstick – when the air raid sirens sounded customers who had their hair wired up for a perm had to sit through the ordeal and hope for the best! The present Herberts salon has been in Winchester Street since 1951 and has always been a family business. Mr White’s wife Mollie used to work in the salon and then in turn it was run by their son Roger. Currently under very different circumstances with the pandemic, Roger has reduced his working hours and is passing the management to his daughter Natalie and her loyal team. They all hope things can continue with the success of the last 90 years welcoming clients.