Newly arrived in Brighton in 1986, I had long, straight hair which from time to time simply needed its split ends chopped off rather than any fancy styling. Cooper's faded scale of charges did not include ladies' cuts so, somewhat gingerly as the place looked distinctly spit-and-sawdust blokey, I popped my head around the demon barber of Baker Street's door. "Do you cut womens hair?" I asked. A shocked silence instantly fell amongst the elderly Brylcreemed male customers. Mr Cooper's hackles visibly rose and battle-ready outrage was unambiguously conveyed through his taut upper body and facial expression. I did not await the invective which was clearly about to be unleashed but turned tail pronto.

My Mother took all six of us children, five girls and one boy, to Coopers for our hair cuts from the 1950s to late 60s. Mr Cooper would always say we had the wrong kind of hair to be long and all of us would leave with a short back and sides. It seemed to be the only way he could cut hair. Bless him.

Sadly Mr Cooper is no longer with us. But he used to come over the open market or lean over the wall at the back of his shop which faced the open market, and used to ask the boys that worked there if they required anything for the weekend. I was never brave enough to enter his salon, but I had a relative who went there all the time. At the time the price was £1-00 which was always paid with a £1-00 coin and a 50p tip.When the price went up to £1-20 the same coins were tendered. Andy (Mr Cooper's name) remarked that the price had gone up to which the reply was that the tip had gone down. I did notice that the next few times he had a hair cut it was even stranger than usual!

It was in fact 'Eisenhower' hair that Mr Cooper cut. It was during the war around D-Day.

I had my hair cut ONCE at Coopers. I had lovely long hair and wanted it shaved off,(a girl just so you know) I was 14 at the time, I went to all the hairdressers and they would not do it, so being determined I went to the barber shop, Coopers, and said I want my hair shaved off. He did it without question, number 1. I loved it. My Dad however freaked out, I'm not too sure if my Dad went and tore a strip off Cooper or not.

I was the one who was expelled from 'Coopers For Cuts' but it wasn't a 'Mick Jagger'. I asked for a hair cut like 'Brian Jones' (it was the early 90s), he asked 'who?' I said 'you know, Brian Jones, from the Rolling Stones'. At which point a red mist decended over him, and he said 'GET OUT, I only cut MENS hair'

Some interesting comments here about haircuts. Im interested in haircut stories from the past and would love to hear from Marina Holmes and Fiona who posted comments here. If you see this ladies could you contact me please at silver56uk@yahoo.co.uk I'd love to ask you a few things.  .

In 1961 I lived over Cooper's, at 27 Baker Street; it was the only flat we could find at the time, £2-10 shillings a week. The radio would go on from time he got in at 0830am and would not go off until 0900pm. Yes we had some good times and bad time like all newly wed's do. One time we picked Mr Cooper up off the floor because his clippers would not cut as fast as he thought they should go and go a shock from them. Also the time when he painted the shop front pink; he painted the curtains and carpet pink as well and did not see anything wrong with that. Poor Mrs Cooper tried to wash the pink out. The big thing that people did not know about him was that he was a very kind man in his way. Yes he did perm women's hair in the evenings at the back of the shop. He told me that he started to cut hair in the army and he was over eighty when he past away.

My great Aunt Alice (she won a competition for the fastest shave) was the first lady gentlemens' barber who owned a shop in Queen's Road, Brighton where she cut hair and shaved men with a cut throat razor.

Once a month, on a Saturday morning, my father would drag my brother and I down to Cooper's 'salon' for a haircut. Most boys with an ounce of self-respect would have rebelled, but the bribe was a fish and chip lunch in the place just across the road from Cooper's (was it called Bardsley's?). Cooper's shop was the original haircut house of horrors. Crammed to eaves with condoms and curling photos of the same hairstyle, Mr. Cooper would shear his way through the day, asissted by the son that he endlessly bossed about. Cooper's was a legendary experience, we called it character building in our days. Nowadays they would call it insanity!

Ah - Coopers! I lived in the only house in Baker Street - student digs, between 1991-1992. Coopers always held a huge fascination to me - I was actually quite afraid of the place as it seemed to be stuck in some kind of timewarp. Faded yellow haircuts from the 1950s were pictured in the windows and yet we never saw anyone leave the shop with their hair anything like the styles depicted. My housemates and I used to walk on the other side of the road (even though our house was just a few doors down from Coopers and on the same side) as Mr Cooper used to fix us with a stern stair and slowly snip his scissors at us in a mildly menacing manner if our gaze should linger too long through his window. On the odd occasion I would be able to grab a few seconds of a good look, I would always be amazed at how shaky Mr Coopers hands were - and pray he didn't offer wet shaves to his customers. . . .. and customers there were - I never saw his barbers chair empty. How I miss little shops like this.