SME profile: Julian, the barber of Dubai, keeps his art personal

The haircutting business is one built on loyalty, and it accounts for the sense of intimacy that even high-powered folk feel in their barber’s chair.

Above, Julian Colclough at his shop Julian Hairdressing for Men at Arenco Tower in Media City. Antonie Robertson / The National

“Barbers would make good spies,” says Julian Colclough, as he looks back over 20 years pursuing the tonsorial arts in Dubai, recalling the good and great who have occupied his chair.

“We get all kinds of people in here, important people, and they will talk about anything, everything. Sometimes I’m, like, ‘wow’,” says Mr Colclough.

As with many an expat, Mr Colclough originally found his way to Dubai through a chance meeting with a client who was then, in 1996, a student at Leeds University in the UK, and with whom he had developed a rapport.

“He was going back one summer and was talking about going fishing and hanging out on the beaches and all that, and I asked if he could see about getting me a job in Dubai and gave him my business card,” Mr Colclough recalls.

It was a solid connection and a diligent one who passed on the card to the eponymous owner of Russell’s Barber shop: “A crazy character,” as Mr Colclough recalls, affectionately.

Russell Wilson was, according to his obituary after a Bur Dubai car crash ended his life at 41 in 2001, “Dubai’s best-known barber”. His memorial service at Holy Trinity Church in Dubai was attended by 600 mourners, many of whom had been customers during his 18 years in the emirate.

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The haircutting business is one built on loyalty, where customers are loath to change and it accounts for the sense of intimacy that even high-powered folk feel in their barber’s chair.

Mr Colclough eventually opened his own shop, Julian Hairdressing for Men, in the Jumeirah area in 2003, starting with the clients who had become loyal to him over the previous seven years.

“Here, in a place like this – an expat community – going to a British barber is a bit special and a haircut really is 50 per cent chat, especially for businessmen who like to wind down while they’re in the chair,” says Mr Colclough.

The Jumeirah shop was busy, Mr Colclough says, “but then I started to notice the town moving.” Now centres like the Burj Khalifa downtown area and Media City have sprung up together with their own retail hubs.

“It was like the boiling frog, it happened gradually and you didn’t notice it at first,” says Mr Colclough.

Loyal clients continue to make the trek to his Village Mall shop but earlier this year Mr Colclough says he decided to bite the bullet and set up a new shop in one of the buzzing new areas, choosing the Arenco Tower, next door to Bytez and More cafe, in Media City.

Having first set up in 2003, what was difference in setting up a new premises?

“I went into several of the local guys here in Media City to find out what was the process and generally it was pretty easy,” says Mr Colclough.

There were four sets of permissions required from the relevant government departments, the free zone, the building and Dubai Municipality. The process took a couple of months to wind its way through but Mr Colcough found he had to secure the services of a technical person he’d come across to speedily get the architectural clearances.

“I had to pay him Dh10,000 but I would have paid him another Dh10,000 if he’d asked for it he was so good,” he says, noting that as a result he was able to make a small fix to an exit sign to address a problem that could have taken months to resolve otherwise.

Now, Julian Hairdressing for Men in Media City is up and running with four barbers, including Mr Colclough, with two barbers still working the Jumeirah shop.

The rent on the Arenco Tower shop is pretty reasonable – about Dh250 per square foot for a 360 square foot space and the costs of getting up and running should be recovered in about six months, says Mr Colclough.

“We charge Dh130 a cut and it’s not really something people cut back on and decide to go somewhere cheaper. It’s too personal,” says Mr Colclough.

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