SIAN JONES SAT DOWN WITH MODERN BARBER’S BEST BUSINESS LEADER 2024, BOBBY GORDON, TO FIND OUT WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
We met Bobby at the recently refurbished Kingly Street store (part of Carnaby London) to discuss his recent win at the Modern Barber Awards 2024. The Soho shop has been a mainstay of the iconic cultural centre of London’s West End since 1986 and remains one of the few businesses that hasn’t been converted into a restaurant. Bobby starts by telling us that taking on the business was a full circle moment for him as he worked at the very shop we’re standing in for 10 years: “I spent so much of my time in Soho when I was younger, so to come back and have my own business is bonkers. For the first few days we were walking round in awe – Liberty’s is at the end of the road!”
It’s been 15 years since Bobby launched the Fella brand and looking back, he tells us that giving yourself a ‘pat on the back’ is one of the hardest things to do. “That’s been the best thing to come from it. It’s nice to feel like you’ve achieved something. It’s good for the brand and the team.” When asked why he decided to enter the Business Leader category this year he shares that it was completing the entry for the Team award that got him thinking about entering himself. “I started to read through the questions, and I thought I’d give it a go. It was nice writing everything down and reflecting.” So, what makes a good Business Leader? “You need to have a lot of patience for a start. For a lot of barbers that go into business they’ve got to understand it’s a different job. You can be a fantastic barber but running a business is a whole different ballgame. You are responsible for all these things, all these people and you have to stay level-headed because if you think about it too much it can get a bit too much... I do enjoy it though!”
A lot of what Bobby knows now came from learning along the way. “You learn from the people you’ve worked with – the good and the bad. I’ve seen some people I’ve worked with where being the boss has gone to their head and I knew that was never going to be my style of management.” When he opened the first shop he didn’t have a ‘bloody clue’ what he was doing. For the born and bred Londoner, relocating to Kent with two small children and a mortgage, just being able to cut hair and pay the rent for the shop was the business plan. “Opening that first shop in Canterbury I thought ‘what have I done here? This is mental’.”
In the beginning the business was marketed as a gentlemen’s hairdressers due to the perception of barbers at the time. “People were scared to go to the barbers because they’d had a bad experience, or they thought it meant a quick job. Very quickly we became well-known, especially with students and grew from there. We went from one to five chairs and people wanted to work for us – I remember when we got some decent people in, and I thought – thank God for that. Without them I’d have been in trouble.”
Considering the highs and lows of embarking on a new business Bobby shares: “Having an amazing team is definitely the highlight. The lows would be the stress of it all. Sometimes you think ‘what the hell am I doing this for?’ and there’s silly decisions you make but you learn from those too. It’s been a journey, and I think anyone who is considering opening their first shop should look into a business course that’s aimed at the barbering industry. Anyone can open a shop but it’s not an easy ride.”
With three shops under his belt, is there another one in the works any time soon? “I always seem to get to a nice point and then I think... ‘should I open another one?’ but not at the minute. It’s human nature to find your comfort zone and then want to step out.” Next on the agenda for Bobby is taking the time to let the businesses settle (with the dream of being able to sit around doing nothing). “I want to get to a decent position where all the shops are doing what they should be doing and then maybe go again.” He also wants to give opportunities to the other members of the team. For the Soho shop he went into partnership with barber, Alex Wakefield and has discovered the benefit of investing in his staff. “Alex was going to invest in his own place, but I didn’t want to lose him. We’re such good mates and he’s somebody I can trust so it made sense as a partnership.” Whatever comes next, Bobby assures us, he’s always going to be in the industry whether it’s cutting, mentoring or looking to ‘go again’ with his next shop.
