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: 

“In those days, it was fashionable to combine the first names of business partners, so that’s what we did, and Peter Gotthard was born. 

“Sadly, Gotthard only stayed a couple of years. He went to Canada and opened an academy in Vancouver – and I was left holding the baby.” 

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.

Peter Harman at work in the 1960s.

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: 

“I was inspired by Vidal Sassoon – he changed my life, and I attribute a lot of my success in hairdressing to him. He was a dear friend and completely changed hairdressing with his new ethos.  

“I spent a lot of time at his salon in Mayfair in the 1960s, doing advanced courses under his supervision. He threw out the old-fashioned hairdryers and rollers and suddenly it was all about the scissors and the hand-held hairdryer. When I started, it was 100% shampoo-and-sets, but by the ’70s, it was 85% cut-and-blowdrys.

“I was bowled over by Vidal’s way of hairdressing – it was pure artistry. That’s what I was inspired by, and that’s what I wanted to bring to the north of England, which I did.” 

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: 

“It called its logo ‘the sign of the best hairdressing salons in the world’ and only admitted one member per town. 

“When people came to Harrogate from overseas, they recognised the Intercoiffure sign. It was a real mark of excellence.” 

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. 

A letter sent to Peter Harman by Margaret Thatcher to thank him for Peter Gotthard’s services when she was in Harrogate.

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

“I’m a technophobe and I was way out of my depth – it was time to go!” 

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:

“Back in the ’80s, Peter was cutting hair most days. He was quite a perfectionist with extremely high standards, and that become the norm for us all. He was a great role model to follow in business, too.”

Peter Harman (back row, centre) and Peter Gotthard’s staff in the late 1970s. Note the Intercoiffure logo on the window.

She added:

“The 80s was an exciting time to become a young hairdresser. Styles were moving on from setting to blow-drying and perming, and then colouring hair took over.

“I watched the salon’s hooded hairdryers disappear one by one as blow-drying became so much more popular. But we still have one that we wheel out of the cupboard for our regular weekly clients who have supported the business for so long. 

“Cutting skills came to the forefront of hairdressing as we stopped relying on dressing the hair so much. Short shapes and bobs of all descriptions were popular, and creative colouring was exciting through into the 90s and 2000s, when straightening hair became huge in the industry. Some of the styles, such as the wolf, the mullet and the shag, just keep coming around.”

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: 

“We’ve got some clients who were coming right at the start and still come now – 60 years later. We’ve got at least 20 who have been coming for 40 years or more. 

“And we’ve still got some very long-serving stylists. Chris has been with us for 46 years, Cheryl for 43 years, and Linda for 40 years. The average length of service among our stylists is about 15 years. That’s very unusual in this industry.” 

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 Byrne (back row, far right) and her staff.

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: 

“I loved all my staff, and I love Yorkshire – I like to think I’m an adopted Yorkshireman! But my main reason for coming back up here is to congratulate Cheryl and Patrick and to thank them. 

“Harrogate was always the number-one salon and my original ‘baby’, and I’m so thrilled that the Peter Gotthard name is still over the door.

Cheryl and Patrick have kept it up-to-date and modern and it’s still going strong. It’s a fantastic achievement on their part – they’ve done an amazing job.” 

The Peter Gotthard salon on Parliament Street in Harrogate today.

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: 

“Peter was 72 when he retired. I’m 61, so I’ve still got a few years left in me. 

“We’re the current custodians of a name that’s been in this town for a very long time and which most people here above a certain age know. Our job is to make sure the next generation know about it too. 

“Our ultimate aim is to pass the business on in good shape, hopefully to a current employee, just as Peter did.”

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He has hung out with Hockney, was behind Mia Farrow’s famous pixie haircut and organised the first gigs for the Sex Pistols and The Jam.

Eric Broadbelt has certainly lived a life.

But it is a lifelong obsession with collecting film posters that has led to a conversation with me on a cloudy April day in Pateley Bridge.

Eric, who is also known as Owen, is one of those people who just gives you joy. Within minutes of meeting him, he had me in stitches and I wanted to be his bestie.

It comes as no surprise that he has rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s biggest stars, working as a celebrity hairdresser, photographer and gig promoter in London.

Private collection

Being so well-connected has helped him build up one of the country’s biggest private collections of film posters, which is believed to add up to around 7,000.

He is now displaying and selling his prized posters, which span a century of film, at The Tordoff Gallery, on Pateley Bridge High Street. He runs the impressive venue, which is somewhat of a hidden gem, with his business partner and fellow film enthusiast, Gloria Tordoff.

He said:

“I started collecting about 50 years ago. I’ve loved film posters since I was a child. I just love the artwork.

“When I was a paper boy in Harrogate and I used to go around on my bike, I used to see the posters, especially the Hammers, and they were in these little boxes, just pasted over. I used to think what a waste. I appreciated even at that age that it was art.

“And it is art. Some of those Hammer posters were done by the top poster artists of the day. But they weren’t available to buy.

“Film posters have always been big in America, never really here up until recently.

“So then I started going to auctions and buying posters just to put on my walls because I loved them. I never thought of them as an investment and I wanted to get my hands on as many as I could get.”

Some of Eric’s film posters, including War of the Worlds and Nosferatu.

A growing collection

Eric slowly started building up his collection and every time he bought one it would become his favourite.

He said:

“I would sit and look at it all day and study it and then do the research, which was difficult to do as it was pre-internet. But it was so interesting.

“I’d find out how many were printed, who the artist was, about the movie and slowly the collection got bigger and bigger.

“A poster would just be laid down flat with tissue paper on it and then another one would go on top of it. Then I couldn’t even look at them, as every time I tried to take one out it would tear.

“So this is fabulous for me. Every day we get stuff out that I can’t even remember buying or ever seeing before!”

The posters, which are in immaculate condition, have been displayed or stored away at Eric’s London home for decades.

So when Keith and Gloria Tordoff, former owners of The Oldest Sweetshop in Pateley Bridge, offered him the opportunity to display his collection in an old bank, he jumped at the chance.

He said:

“There is a giant poster of Il Gigante on display here from Sotheby’s that has been rolled up for 30 years. It literally is the only one available in the world. There are probably other ones smaller, but that is in six pieces and is backed on to linen.

“It is the best depiction of James Dean’s face ever. It hasn’t even got a price yet. At the time when I bought it everybody in the room wanted it. But I got it.”

Talking to Eric, you can see how much he adores his collection. His eyes light up and he becomes increasingly animated when he talks about each poster.

He stressed it wasn’t about the money, but rather them going to a good home. Buyers have to be vetted before the posters go.

Star Wars posters, including a rare £20,000 British premier concept version (top left).

‘I just love looking at them’

He said:

“Parting with them is just so hard. I have to go and sit in the car.

“It’s about them going to good homes and I just love looking at them. It’s nice to see people enjoying them. We had a media studies teacher who came in and started crying. He said he had never seen any of these, apart from in books.”

Everywhere you turn in the gallery, it is pure nostalgia. It is a movie treasure trove and there is something from every era, including the modern day.

Eric, who said he would sometimes buy up to 200 posters a day, said:

“I’m getting into the modern stuff as you can put them in the light boxes. The posters are double-sided. They just look fabulous.

“We are waiting for a poster that I’m very excited about. Deadpool. It’s him doing the Flashdance water scene.

“I am still collecting and I get so excited when I know one is coming. I don’t sleep and I can’t get in here early enough.”

Unique posters

Rare posters include a one-of-a-kind Disney’s Snow White poster, There’s No Business Like Showbusiness, of which there are only six in existence, and the Andy Warhol movie Querelle, of which there are believed to be only two in the world.

The rare 1942 Snow White poster.

Eric, who is a self-confessed Disney fanatic, said:

“We’ve got loads of really rare stuff.

“An ordinary Snow White from the first release is about £30,000 and this one is rarer.

“It was the first re-release of 1942, so it was in the war and it had a very small run in just a few cinemas.

“Whereas there were a lot done for the first release, there was probably only a few hundred done for that. It is in immaculate condition.

“The large Flame of New Orleans poster was £8,000 when I bought it and that was 30 years ago and we can’t find another one. So we have a lot of posters that we don’t know the exact value of. If someone was seriously going to buy it, we would obviously find out.”

Spiderman

Eric also showed me a rare 2002 Spiderman poster, which was withdrawn following 9/11 as the Twin Towers can be seen reflected in the superhero’s eye.

The rare 2002 Spiderman poster, with the reflection of the Twin Towers in the superhero’s eye.

There is also a Pulp Fiction poster that features Uma Thurman smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes, which was withdrawn after the film company was sued by Lucky Strike.

Eric said:

“It’s details like this that can make posters more valuable.”

Star Wars

When it comes to posters with the most value, there is a £20,000 Star Wars poster on display that was only ever used for the British premier.

Eric said:

“It was literally only used for that day. It was a  concept poster so the images don’t even look like the actors. That’s why it is £20,000 because it is so rare.”

“We’ve got things like the James Bond movie Thunderball, again that’s £20,000.

“Earlier last year a Dr No poster sold for £60,000 in Sotheby’s and we thought that was a fluke, but then six weeks later another one sold for £90,000.

“You just have to get the right poster. We’ve got Harrison Ford’s Blade Runner. We had that on for £2,000 two weeks ago. Then there was a sale at Christie’s and it doubled in price. They will never go down in value.”

A collection of James Bond posters, including a rare £20,000 Thunderball poster.

‘The best poster ever made’

Eric then showed me Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which he said was considered the “best poster ever made”.

He said:

“It’s by an artist called Saul Bass and he revolutionised poster art. We’ve got a lot of his work. It’s so fascinating when you get into it.

“You never know what people are going to buy. Someone had Shrek 3 on their list the other day. Someone came in asking if we have Burt Reynolds posters.

“We had three people all battling for a signed Back to the Future poster.

“I always say if you can hang it over your bed it’s a good test.”

Hairdresser to the stars

When you delve into Eric’s amazing history, you learn that he actually knew many of the stars named in the poster billings.

He worked at the iconic Vidal Sassoon hairdressers on Bond Street, London, from 1966.

He said:

“A lot of the stars, I’ve done their hair. I’ve worked on a million movies, including Rosemary’s Baby. We did Mia Farrow’s iconic pixie cut.

“I worked on Clockwork Orange. I’ve done Faye Dunaway, Diana Ross, Shirley MacLaine, Charlotte Rampling and Carrie Fisher. I worked with Dave Prowse, who was Darth Vader. They were all lovely. I did most of the stars from the 60s, but I never did Elizabeth Taylor or Raquel Welch.

“I did Tim Curry, from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton and Adam Faith. We weren’t meant to do men’s haircuts but the wives used to send them to us.”

Rock gigs

It was at this point that Eric casually threw in that he used to run rock gigs at London’s iconic venues, the Red Cow and the Nashville.

He said:

“When the Bond Street salon closed, I thought I better do something else.”

When his parents became ill 20 years ago, he returned to North Yorkshire, where he now resides in a house in Thornthwaite.

Eric, who still has a house in London, said:

“I’m originally from Harrogate and my first job was at Peter Gotthard’s. Peter had the contacts at Vidal Sassoon.”

It was thanks to his work at Vidal Sassoon that he managed to get hold of some of his posters – many of which he got signed by the stars.

Signed posters

Eric said:

“I got Madonna’s, as I did her PA’s hair, Julie Andrews, Christopher Lee, the Reservoir Dogs cast. We’ve got a lot of signed posters.”

However, he has yet to have any celebrity clients visit the gallery, which he puts down to not advertising the venue. Eric said he wanted people to organically find it. He didn’t even want an online presence, but eventually caved due to frequent requests from customers.

Eric said:

“There’s no gallery outside of London like this. The aim is to bring people to Pateley Bridge.

“It’s working because people are talking. We’ve had people coming from as far as Jersey and Scotland.”

Andy Warhol

When asked to pick a favourite, he pointed out an Italian version of Andy Warhol’s Heat.

He said:

“It’s pure Andy Warhol and I bought that from Christie’s probably 40 years ago. It’s been over my bed for 30 years.”

The Italian version of Andy Warhol’s Heat.

David Hockney

He also showed me a rare 50-year-old film poster of A Bigger Splash, featuring one of David Hockney’s famous LA pool paintings, before casually dropping in that he used to hang around with the artist.

He laughed:

“I used to meet him in the clubs in Paris. I always thought he wasn’t quite on my level!”