CELEBRITY hair stylist Nicky Clarke has told of his anguish over how the Covid-19 pandemic has forced him to move his salon out of Mayfair in central London after 21 years.
He said a change in the mix of clients coming in and higher costs forced the move.
He told GB News: “When we moved from that salon, the one you’re talking about, after 21 years, we moved just around the corner to another amazing space.
“The thing that the pandemic has changed, not just in terms of the clients coming in and not wanting to be in Mayfair, also I think, attitudes of the workers.
“You’ve got so many people really, that are wanting to do less days and, being paid the same amount of money, but I think mostly it was the fact that we set a standard that was at a very high level.”
“We did something very, very new…and we weren’t really able to continue that at that level.
“I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of wonderful messages from clients, but also from members of staff that just said that was just the best time of their lives.”
Mr Clarke is a legendary celebrity hair stylist who has worked for people such as David Bowie and Diana, Princess of Wales.
He made his comments during a discussion on Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel on GB News.
Host Isabel Webster asked him about all the secrets his high profile clients must have disclosed to him over the years.
Mr Clarke said: “I used to say that I could write tomorrow’s front page.
“The reason that I could say that was because I was entrusted with an awful lot of information.”
He added that the salon even had a secret entrance so clients could come in without being seen by press photographers.
Mr Clarke said, though many of his clients have reputations for being divas, he never saw that side of them and was starstruck by boyhood heroes David Bowie and Bryan Ferry.
“I could probably say that I probably did most of the older divas – Margaret Thatcher, Diana Ross’s, Naomi Campbell, they were fabulous with me, they were just lovely.
“It’s really when you’re doing your boyhood heroes, you know – David Bowie and Bryan Ferry and all, and actually, it’s just I’m a huge Bowie fan. I used to camp outside his house when I was 13.”
