THEY don't make them like they used to. Just ask barber Geoff Utley.
Geoff, who has been cutting hair at his shop in Snape Hill Road, Darfield, for 28 years, decided to have a bit of an upgrade to accommodate himself and his grandson Jake, who is joining him as an apprentice in the new year.
The trouble was Geoff only had the one chair - and that's around 60 years old. Before Geoff acquired it, the chair belonged to George Scrivener who had an barber's shop in Hough Lane for donkey's years. And Geoff, 72, decided it was time for it to go.
He said: "I decided to do the shop up for when Jake joined me. I have always worked alone so only ever needed the one chair. But with Jake joining as an apprentice I thought I'd invest in a pair of matching chairs to replace my old one."
Geoff scoured the internet with his grandkids until he found a pair of matching chairs. But when they arrived Geoff wasn't a happy chap and quickly decided that the chairs' stay in the shop would have to be cut short. So he contacted the company and asked them to take them back.
Geoff then decided to hit the internet once more and luckily he found a chair the same as his old one, so decided to have them reupholstered to match. Said Geoff: "It was being sold by a bloke in Sunderland. He wanted £300 but we managed to knock him down to £280. "The chair then had to be reupholstered which cost a fair bit too, but I reckon it's worth it. These chairs are made properly and will last me for years.
"I've always said the old ones are the best."
