End of an era as well known Doncaster barber retires after over 50 years

But Elaine Green is finally hanging up her scissors on Christmas Eve after a career which has seen her deal with the styles of many generations of fashionable Doncaster men.

Elaine has been running her own shop, The Barber Shop, on High Street Barnby Dun, since the 1980s.

But she first tried her hand in the trade in 1968 when she used to go to work at Alan’s Barber Shop, on Station Road, Stainforth, as a Saturday girl, aged 14.

She liked the work – and the following year she started working there full time after leaving school.

Her dad, a miner with a family of seven, put up a £100 bond for her to do an apprenticeship, and she spent five years training there.

"It was a lot of money for dad to put up,” she said. “But I stuck with it, he got his bond back, and here I am 51 years later,” said Elaine.

The shop later moved to the other side of the road in the 1970s, as a unisex salon called Guys and Dolls, as long, 1970s cuts came into fashion. She spent two years working for a friend in Dunscroft, before moving to buy her own shop, Elaine’s on Princess Avenue, Stainforth.

But the businesses struggled during the miners strike of 1984 and 1985, as Stainforth was hit hard. Elaine sold up.

As she did, she was offered a shop in Barnby Dun – and she has been there ever since until selling up to retire this week.

"A lady called Vera was retiring and asking me if I wanted to buy it,” said Elaine, now aged 66. “I was downhearted to leave my previous shop, but as one door closes another opens.

"The shop here is still known locally by many as Vera the Shearer’s, and lots of people call me Vera!

"Another lady is taking over the shop now, so it will continue to be there.”

In her early days, there was a lot of demand for wet shaves using a traditional cut-throat razor. Elaine remembers the training well.

"You used to have to blow up a balloon, put it between your legs and lather it up with shaving cream,” she said. “Then you’d practice on the balloon. If it burst, it meant that you had cut the customer. I lost count of the number of balloons I burst in training – I often came out covered in shaving foam!”

In the intervening years, she has dealt with styles ranging from 70s long hair and the 80s mullet to charity head shaves, and says a Peaky Blinders shaved and faded look is currently popular. She has seen five generations of some families.

But her favourite has been rocker style quiffs in the 60s. “That was quite an art,” she said. “Some people took them very seriously.”

Her last week has seen one of her three granddaughters helping her in the shop, but she says none of them plan to follow her into the trade.

She plans to spend more time with her family after retiring, and to go out on walks with friends.

“I’m going to miss the customers,” she added. “They’ve become friends.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.