Cork's Baldy Barber celebrates 85 years in business

The owner of The Baldy Barber in Blackpool has thanked his loyal customers and supporters from across the globe as the barber shop celebrated 85 years in business this week.

Mick Moriarty said that he was thrilled with the well-wishes and messages of support he has received through social media.

People from as far away as Germany and Australia sent messages remembering Mick’s father Peter Moriarty, who opened the barber shop, which was originally located on Merchant’s Quay back in 1937.

He and his brother Michael, Mick’s uncle, worked together in the barber shop for some time before Peter passed away, and it was sold.

But Mick, who will soon be 56 years in the barbering business himself, kept the tradition going in Blackpool, where The Baldy Barber name lived on through his team, which he described as “a family”.

He said that it wasn’t just a business, but “a family situation” back then on Merchant’s Quay between those who worked in the barber shop and the neighbouring businesses, as it still is to this day in Blackpool.

He described his father as hard-working, and said he was “a great man to get up in the morning” and would attend local Mass before opening shop at 7.50am.

“You had dockers coming in and getting their haircuts, and a good thing was trust,” he said.

They

would come in on a Tuesday and say to my father: ‘Peter, the four boys will be down during the week for a haircut, and I’ll pay you Friday or Saturday’ and no one ever failed to pay him, and some of those young people are still coming in.

He spoke of elderly customers who have been coming into the barber shop for years without fail and said that he has missed seeing the regular customers throughout the pandemic.

Mick, who currently has five employees, said that the team has been excellent in following all guidelines, and that while it has been tough, he looks forward to getting back to normal.

“It has been very, very tough for everyone, and now with people going back to work and back to the offices, please God we will see more people coming into the shop again,” he said.