'It was such a surprise': Community hair salon wins title of 'Northampton Salon of the Year'

A team of 15 staff at a hair salon in East Hunsbury is celebrating after winning the prestigious title of 'Northampton Salon of the Year.'

The Hair Pavilion, in Butts Road, were the winners of Midlands Salon of the Year 2020/2021 in the Prestige Awards, which aims to give recognition to small and medium-sized businesses that have proven to be the best in their region in the past year.

Now, the hair salon gets to celebrate again after obtaining the additional accolade of 'Northampton Salon of the Year 2021/2022' in the Prestige Awards.

Marketing manager, Oskar White, said: "It is brilliant, it was such a surprise for us. We have had a manic couple of years during the pandemic so it is good to hear that we are being recognised still.

"It lets people know that we are still here and supports us so it is really good for the team and the community as well."

The Hair Pavilion was opened by owner, Lucy Botterill, when she was 22 years old and the salon team has recently celebrated 20 years of salon success on top of being nominated for the 'Best Branding Category' in the Hair & Beauty Awards.

The salon's team of 15 consists of experienced stylists, barbers, budding apprentices, a salon host, salon assistants, their HR lead and customer experience lead.

One of the members of staff has additionally been nominated for the 'Best Hairdresser' category on the Hair & Beauty Awards.

Oskar continued: "We are quite a large team now and everyone is different and everyone has their own strengths and everyone is working together.

"We are quite a good team so we are trying to make it more of a community experience and offer different services.

"We are working with the local schools to invite pupils in for work experience and work shops. A lot of people aren't doing things like that because of Covid and we just wanted to do something different."

The first national lockdown prompted the team to spring into action to ensure the well-being of their staff was at the forefront of their priority list with weekly quiz nights and Zoom calls where both staff and customers could chat and catch up.

Oskar added: "We try to make sure that we are keeping the team support up and make sure people are happy at work."

Customers could collect home colour kits from the salon during lockdown and staff would film their own tutorials on YouTube to show customers how to colour their hair and roots using their kits.

The Hair Pavilion has additionally gone digital. Clients are provided with access to the salon's Netflix account, Wi-Fi, radio stations and digital magazines instead of paper copies to address health risks raised by Covid-19.

It was this care and community spirit that made Prestige Awards get in touch and subsequently led to their 'Salon of the Year for Central England' award win at the end of 2020.

Visit The Hair Pavilion's website at www.thehairpavilion.co.uk for more information or call 01604 706900.