40 years of franchising for Long Eaton-based firm

The team at a Long Eaton-based hairdressing business continues to celebrate, as the group marks 40 years since adopting the franchising model across the business.

The change, in 1985, coincided with the retirement of business owner and entrepreneur, Mr Keith Hall MBE.

Current managing director, Darren Messias, explained the reasons for the shift. He said: “Mr Hall was an undisputed icon of the hairdressing industry, spearheading revolutionary concepts which are the norm today – including the salon franchise format and the unisex salon." 

“In the mid-eighties, the business comprised 12 salons across the East Midlands. Each salon was run by a junior partner and, when facing retirement, forward-thinking Mr Hall believed adopting the franchising model would allow these partners to stay in control of their own destiny, offering them more motivation to succeed if they owned their own salon. He was also keen to keep the name and so the franchise format, virtually unheard of in the industry at the time, seemed to be the perfect solution.”

Under Mr Hall’s continued guidance, joint managing directors, Stephen Messias and Brian Gosnell, grew the business as more salon acquisitions came along. Re-branded in 2014, the fully-franchised Group now operates salons across the region as well as an award-winning training academy where the next generation of stylists and future franchisees learn their trade.

Darren said that the company has always been proud to provide exceptional and forward-thinking training, and the academy has been an integral part of the business model since the early days.   He continued: "Every single one of our salons has a franchisee who began their career as an apprentice with the Group.”

Joining Keith Hall as an apprentice in 1989, Darren worked his way through the stylist ranks until he became a franchisee of a Leicestershire salon just seven years later. Now, as managing director of the Group, he supports and guides the Creative Team as it represents the brand both nationally and internationally at photo shoots, on the catwalks, in the press and at industry shows. 

In 2023, the Fellowship for British Hairdressing awarded him a ‘Fellow with Distinction’ medal for his work to ‘going above and beyond to contribute to its activities and promoting UK hairdressing as a whole’.