The man who brought the revolutionary hairdressing techniques of Vidal Sassoon to the north of England in the 1960s will be the guest of honour next month, when the salon he co-founded celebrates 60 years in business. 

Peter Harman opened Peter Gotthard Hairdressing at 36 Parliament Street in Harrogate in June 1964, with business partner Gotthard Passager, a Swiss stylist he had met in London. 

Speaking exclusively to the Stray Ferret, Peter said: 

Peter worked hard to build up the business, sometimes doing four or five hair shows a week, “anywhere we could get an audience”, to spread the word.

It was in the mid-sixties when Peter learned the skills that would put his salon at the forefront of hairdressing innovation and make Peter Gotthard a by-word for cutting-edge style. He said: 

In 1966, Peter put on a two-hour show at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, putting the salon’s name in lights: ‘Peter Gotthard Hair Show’. It attracted 950 people, who came just to see his demonstration of the new techniques. 

The hard work paid off, and the three-storey Parliament Street premises grew to accommodate 35 stations, with separate men’s and ladies’ salons and a beauty salon. 

He opened a second salon on Leeds Road in the 1970s and another on Westgate in Ripon in the ’80s, followed by a fourth on Coppergate in York in the 1990s, and there were as many as “70 or 80” people working in the business. 

Peter Gotthard was even invited to become a member of Intercoiffure Mondial, the Paris-based global network of elite salons. Peter said: 

In fact, it was one that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher perhaps recognised when she came to Harrogate to give a speech at the conference centre in 1982. She asked Peter Gotthard to supply a hairdresser to style her hair, and Peter still has her handwritten letter of thanks. 

But later, in the nineties and naughties, the hairdressing industry was revolutionised again, this time by technology, when everything became digitised. Peter said: 

So in February 2008, Peter Gotthard embarked on a new chapter when Peter sold it to one of his longest-serving employees, Cheryl Byrne. Cheryl had joined the business as a 16-year-old, straight from school, in May 1981 and even met her husband, Patrick, through a Peter Gotthard colleague. 

Cheryl said:

She added:

Patrick and Cheryl, who have been married now for 37 years, are carrying on Peter’s legacy from the Parliament Street premises he opened six decades ago. They have nine stylists, three receptionists and an apprentice, and there are an independent beauty business and a tattoo business under the same roof. 

Despite the longevity of the business – unparallelled in its sector locally – Peter Gotthard still counts some old friends among its customers. 

Patrick said: 

Nevertheless, there have been scores of other employees who have gone on to work elsewhere – Patrick says that Peter Gotthard has “probably trained half of Harrogate” – and many of them have set up their own businesses.

Cheryl and Patrick are hoping that as many of them and Peter Gotthard’s long-standing clients as possible will join them at the salon for the 'Diamond Jubilee' celebrations from noon till 4pm on Monday, June 10.

Two guests who are certain to be there are Peter and his wife Brenda, whom he met in 1965, within months of arriving in Harrogate. 

Peter, who moved with Brenda back to his home county of Surrey a few years ago after 50 years in Yorkshire, said: 

After the party, Patrick says it will be business as usual – he and Cheryl have no plans to turn off the lights just yet. 

He said: 

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