Start-up hair salon thankful for support from Business Gateshead

After facing redundancy, Adam Hornsby and Wife Lauren Hornsby contacted Business Gateshead in July 2020 for start-up support to open a new hair salon in Whickham. They were keen to get started as soon as possible as Lauren was pregnant at the time. Evergreen Salon on Front Street opened in November 2020 and has created six new jobs.

Adam and Lauren faced a lot of added pressures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "There was a lot of work that needed done, but everything was very slow due to lockdown and restrictions. However, with help from friends and family we got the job done and made a salon we are proud of."

Adam and Lauren have received support from Business Gateshead to enable them to open their business. "We got in touch with the council to see if there was any support they could offer us. Financially there wasn't at the time, but what they did give me was added support and advice on what to look out for. They would also update me regularly about anything that may be of interest to us to help us get started."

Despite being open only a few days, the salon was closed due to the National Lockdown Restrictions that were imposed on the 5 November. Adam said "We were all ready and excited for the salon opening day, little did we know that we would be open for three days as lockdown 2.0 was to hit us the week of our opening." Worried about how they would continue to pay bills, Adam contacted his start-up advisor again. "We were advised to apply for a local restriction grant support. This has helped us massively to just keep ticking over and got us through the second lockdown covering bills etc."

They reopened on the 2 December and worked hard to meet the Christmas demand. "We believe that the support and grant from Gateshead Council has helped us achieve this. We are making sure we provide our clients with the best service and experience they could ask for but doing this safely to protect them and out stylists."

Adam and Lauren have been supported by "Enterprise Support in the North East 2", which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2020.