THE floor of a new barber shop will be made up of thousands of pennies.

The former Money Shop in Dalton Road, Barrow, will become The Gentry and will be run by Daniel Culley, 30, from Barrow and Kelly Saunders, 29, from Marton.

Currently, 30,000 pennies are laid on the floor covered in gloss and it is expected that by the time is it finished 80,000 pennies will have been used.

Mr Culley said: "When me and Kelly were looking on social media we saw someone had done it in their kitchen so decided to do it on a larger scale because it looked nice.

"It does keep in the theme of a gentleman's barbers. It is a vintage and quirky thing to do.
"It will take about 100 man hours in total to complete the floor. We got them all from the bank.

"Obviously because of the sheer volume of them, we had to get them ordered in but because we have a business account we could do this."

Mr Culley explained how the idea for the shop took shape. He said: "The owner of the Kendal branch approached Kelly and told her that he wanted to expand the business elsewhere.

"Kelly then got in touch with me because she knows me from previous work. We put our heads together and came up with opening a salon in Barrow." The duo hope this will be the first in a series of branches.

The aim of the new premises is to have a traditional English barber shop on the ground floor, sun beds on the second floor and tattoo artists from Voodoo, which has stores in Carlisle and Kendal, on the top floor.

Mr Culley said: "Me and Kelly were both tired of working for other people and putting money into other people's pockets so decided this was a good way of doing something for ourselves."

It is hoped The Gentry will be open for business in the second week in November.

The empty shop had been marketed by Peill & Co, with bosses hinting earlier this year that a number of empty retail units in Barrow were being taken up by new tenants.

The impending opening of The Gentry is the latest in a string of new shops in the town centre. Trespass, The Entertainer, Vaporized and Istanbul Barbers are just some of the recent new openings.

Meanwhile, Aldi has been given permission to combine the former Dreams and B&M Bargains units at Hollywood Retail Park in Hindpool Road and create a new supermarket.

Aldi already has two other supermarkets in Barrow - one in Risedale Road and another at Hindpool Retail Park, close to the site of the proposed new store.

Aldi has not yet confirmed what will happen to its other store in Hindpool Road, although sources have previously suggested it could close once the new store opens.

The new store is likely to create more jobs for Aldi in Barrow, with the retail area of the shop covering 1,395 square metres.