A cutting-edge men’s grooming salon that has branches across the world is moving into one of the last remaining vacant stores in Nottingham’s revitalised Bridlesmith Gate
MENSPIRE has agreed terms to open its latest establishment at 37 Bridlesmith Gate in the next few weeks.
The rapidly expanding high-end brand, which offers its customers individually tailored hair consultations and bespoke styling, has more than 20 branches in locations including Amsterdam, Dublin, Budapest, Watford, Aberdeen, Naples and Portland, Oregon, in the US.
MENSPIRE director Seamus O’Keeffe, who already runs the firm’s salon in Anstey, Leicester, chose to expand into the new 353 sq. ft. Nottingham premises after falling in love with the ‘buzz’ of Bridlesmith Gate.
The deal, struck with the aid of commercial estate agent FHP, follows a move by Nottingham-based landlord ALB Group to snap up properties in the street in an effort to give it a new lease of life after many shops had gone out of business.
ALB managing director Arran Bailey spearheaded the purchase of 11 retail buildings there and, by introducing cheaper and more flexible rent agreements, set out on a mission to give Bridlesmith Gate a cooler vibe, similar to London’s Carnaby Street.
With the arrival of MENSPIRE, only one of the original vacant units, formerly occupied by shoe store Office and, later, by fitness store Realbuzz, remains to be filled.
Arran said: “The dream to revitalise this area of my hometown with independent, specialist and high-quality businesses has been coming together nicely over the past year or so.
“To add an amazing, international brand like MENSPIRE to the list really is icing on the cake. It’s a real coup for Nottingham.”
Seamus (26), who will be bringing four or five top men’s stylists with him to Nottingham, counts a number of Premier League footballers among his list of regular clients.
He said the world of men’s hairdressing had changed “one hundred per cent”, even in the seven years that he had been doing the job.
“There’s a lot more individuality now,” he said. “People are much more open to having something that genuinely suits them, rather than just following the crowd.
“Focusing as we do on precision barbering with diverse creativity and tailor-made client consultations to find out exactly what they want, we are confident we will go down well in Nottingham. And we just love the new buzz in Bridlesmith Gate.”
Seamus ran his own hairdressing business in Leicester before joining the MENSPIRE team in 2020, though he has also worked as an educator at MENSPIRE’s hairdressing academies across the world for a number of years.
He said his ambition was to open a new MENSPIRE Academy in the East Midlands, potentially in Nottingham.
Oliver Marshall, associate director of Nottingham property agent FHP, said: “It’s great to see a retailer with such a strong, international brand take one of the last Bridlesmith Gate units. It’s a real reflection on the refreshing vision that Arran Bailey has brought to the city.”
Other retailers that have taken properties in Bridlesmith Gate under ALB Group’s custodianship include ladieswear boutique Stick & Ribbon, independent estate agent Pygott & Crone, craft coffee shop Barista Lab, fashion store 18Montrose and Sneakerverse.
ALB also commissioned a group of artists last year to complete a number of brightly coloured murals on some of the street’s buildings to improve the vibrancy of the area.
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