Pole Position

"Jolly but professional owner who does a splendid job on my hair."

"Tony made me feel welcome, had a great chat about holidays in Sicily. Oh! By the way I had the best haircut that I’ve had in ages."

"It's a 2.5 barber shop. Nothing to exceptional, good place to go for a regular haircut, might not be a good for fancy cuts. I gave it three because of lovely expresso and friendly staff."

"I was very disappointed with my recent experience at Pole Position. I’d visited once before when I was served by the owner, a nice guy and a mostly positive experience. However, on this occasion I was left dissatisfied and frustrated almost from the outset. When I walked in there was little welcome, but as the only customer waiting I took a seat pleased that as the next client I would be able to choose to have my hair cut by a particular member of staff that I recognised from my previous visit. However, when another customer walked in they was greeted in a very friendly manner by the same member of staff I had wanted to cut my hair, and who then made excuses to ensure that they cut the other customers hair instead. The situation was made awkward and I decided to have my hair cut by the other member of staff - a mistake. I have genuinely never experienced anything like it. The barber was not welcoming, almost silent and seemed somewhat aggrieved to be working at all. I took a seat and waited to be asked what I wanted. I'd brought a photo as an example of the sort of cut I was after, and was shocked to see the barber half glance at the photo from over my shoulder for a second before beginning to cut my hair! Without being asked I then quickly started to explain what I wanted (before he cut off too much), which seemed of little interest to him. He continued to perform the cut in near silence without asking me even standard questions such as; what I wanted from the style, which way I parted my hair, how I wore my fringe, or whether I wanted the back finished tapered or natural. I had to try and recognise what he was doing and keep pointing him in the right direction. The barber even attempted to argue with me about the length of the cut before suggesting in a patronising manner: ‘the customer gets what he wants’. With a growing number of customers in the barbers it was awkward and uncomfortable. Moreover it was frustrating as it became clear that the barber was not going to be able to provide the simple style I had requested. And to add insult to injury he even went on to rudely suggest that he had not had the cut properly explained to him, a complete joke and utterly disgraceful considering his intention was to cut my hair in relative silence without discussing what was wanted at any stage of the haircut. I felt very let down and, to be frank, left in a small state of shock considering the poor service I had been provided and aware that the haircut was in preparation for 2 weddings and another important occasion. I quickly decided to book into another barbers to get my hair restyled elsewhere. I left 2 stars as my original experience with the owner was good. Unfortunately it seems it depends on who you get. But any professional barber should be capable of being friendly, communicating with the customer satisfactorily, and be up to date with basic styles and techniques in order to provide a hair cut in line with what's requested."

"I've been there a number of times. It is my go-to barber shop now. Of course some would be nervous about letting a Sicilian loose around your throat with sharp tools, but in this case it's well worth the risk :)"