The London Standard has reported that a former Met Police detective chief inspector Mike Neville said: . “You get these guys charging £10 to £15 a haircut, and then they are driving around in a massive Mercedes,” and has claimed they are a front for crime. But what do Londoners think?
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00:00There's becoming a common scene across the capital, run down high streets near wealthy
00:09neighbourhoods among other neighbourhoods in London as well. Lots of charity shops,
00:16lots of food and fruit grocery shops, but also a lot of barbers. Barber shops are a
00:21common feature, often empty of customers. Westminster has one of the highest proportion
00:27of barber shops in the capital, followed by Kensington and Chelsea and Camden. According
00:32to data from the Office of National Statistics, the number of hairdressing, barber and beauty
00:38spots in London has grown from just under 6,000 in 2015 to just under 9,000 in 2024.
00:46So why have we seen such an increase in barber shops? Well, a former Met Police officer has
00:51claimed that some barber shops in the capital resemble American candy stores, suggesting
00:56that they could be involved in money laundering. He points out that they have rarely customers
01:02in them and has speculated that many of them could be linked to criminal activity. His
01:08suspicions are supported by the National Crime Agency, which has reported a rise in intelligence
01:14connecting barber shops to money laundering and other criminal activities in recent years.
01:20But could it be that barbers are just a popular business to start? Have Londoners noticed
01:25an increase in shops? Here is what the people of London had to say on the issue.
01:30In fact, there's a couple down there, I think, which in fact are actually next door to each
01:36other, more or less. I don't really understand that. And I think if they are frontage of
01:45crime, whether it be barber shops or whatever, I think, well, I mean, you're talking about
01:53criminality. And I think, I mean, let's put it this way. I've had my car pinched outside
01:58my own flat. I've noticed there are at least two on this side. I personally have noticed
02:07an increase in barber shops. But to be honest, being an entrepreneur myself, I'm starting
02:11to try and get a few entrepreneurial ideas myself. Barber shops, along with taxi drivers.
02:17Well, now we've got Uber and Uber. Yeah, a lot more. One of the cheapest businesses to
02:25actually start as an independent is a barber shop, because it doesn't take a lot to actually
02:32open a barber shop. So I think people are just struggling because I believe the market
02:37is saturated.
02:38There's no one in there. I mean, the cost of rent must be quite high. So how are they
02:44affording it? I don't know what they charge the customer. But then you could say the same
02:49thing about nail bars. I mean, why is there an increase in nail bars? Why are people getting
02:55grants for those?