Alistair Hatch
Cuts Tuesday to Friday. Classic shapes, grey hair, and anyone who has been coming for more than five years.
Three generations, two rooms
A barbershop that takes an hour over a haircut, in a city that has learned to expect twenty minutes.
Alistair Hatch's grandfather opened a two-chair shop in Leith in 1948 and cut hair there until 1981. His father took over the lease, then moved across town, then retired the year Alistair finished his training. There was a gap of nine years in which the family did not have a shop, and Alistair spent it working in other people's, learning what he did not want.
What he did not want was the clock. Twenty-minute appointments, a queue at the door, and the feeling that the person in the chair was the thing between the barber and his lunch. So when Stockbridge opened in 2016 the appointment was an hour, the price said so, and everyone told him it would not work.
“Nobody has ever complained that a haircut took too long. They complain that it was rushed.”
Callum Wren came in as a customer in the first month, mentioned he was a joiner, and ended up building the second room. Then he trained. Then he became a partner. The New Town room opened in 2021, built by hand over a winter, and is the reason the house now has five barbers and a waiting list for Saturdays.
The standard
Five things that do not change
- Time
- An appointment is an hour. The half hour is for regulars who ask for it.
- The razor
- Every barber in the house shaves with a straight razor, and Callum sharpens them.
- The room
- No music you did not choose, no television, no queue behind your chair.
- The price
- On the board, the same in both rooms, including the hot towel.
- The barber
- Yours, if you want. Most people keep the same one for years.
The barbers
Who will look after you
Callum Wren
Three days a week in the chair, two in the workshop. Beards and shaves.
Ewan Murray
Scissor work and the honest conversation. Twelve years with the house.
Rafael Costa
Razor work from Porto. Runs the New Town shave list.
Niall Duffy
The youngest in the house and the one to ask for anything modern. Trained here from sixteen.