Now with two sick sites, Cut Throat Kenny has gone from strength to strength. To further cement the brand, the original Oldham branch got a cheeky little refresh during lockdown.

PHOTOS: @SOPHIEBARROTT

OWNER: Jason Kenny

SOCIAL: @cutthroatkenny 

OPENED: Oldham, 2017, refurbished during lockdown; Royton, 2019 

BUDGET: £15-20k on each shop 

THE STORY: We originally opened a small shop in a back alley, but after two and a half years we decided to take the leap into a bigger shop just round the corner. We wanted to expand as a business and improve our overall experience, plus I had always thought it would be a cool idea to have a bar inside a barbershop and this gave me the space to do it! After another two years we opened another shop a couple of miles down the road in Royton, to complement our first shop. 

BUILD: I have a few building skills and like to do a lot of the work myself, but I have learnt over the years to leave some things to the professionals. Over lockdown I did a refurb on our Oldham shop as I was bored but I ended up falling off a ladder, which hurt a lot! Normally, I would have friends around to help to save me from myself. I also found during quarantine that materials were ridiculously high priced, I would start a job, and when I went back for more materials, the price had tripled! 

BRIEF: We wanted to make our shops somewhere that’s comfortable for staff and customers, but we also like to entertain people. We have a bar, a pool table, an air hockey table and a football table, amongst a million things on the walls to keep people busy while they wait. Before COVID-19 people would regularly have their hair cut, then hang around and chill for a while. 

MOST UNIQUE ELEMENTS: The most unique thing about Cut Throat Kenny is the laid back, social club environment that makes friends of our customers. We also have Bruce Buffer (a UFC ring announcer) as our hype man on Instagram!