Princess of Wales’ marriage ceremony hairdressers accuse Labour of ‘squeezing’ salons as enterprise charges backlash mounts

The owners of a salon used by the Princess of Wales have accused Labour of ‘squeezing business to a point where profit is becoming a dirty word’. 

Celebrity hairdresser Richard Ward – who styled the Princess of Wales’ hair at her wedding to Prince William in 2011 – and his business partner wife said the industry is ‘constantly overlooked’ by ministers.

His comments came after Labour announced a 15 per cent business rates discount for pubs and music venues – to the dismay of other High Street firms including hotels, salons and shops.

Hairdressers have joined a campaign started by publicans and hoteliers to ban Labour MPs from their premises in a mounting backlash over higher taxes.

But despite calls for changes to help all businesses, the Government has focused on pubs.

Richard Ward told The Mail: ‘Why is it “poor old pubs”? It should be “poor old everyone on the high street”.’

Richard Ward styled the Princess of Wales’ hair when she was younger and at the royal wedding in 2011

And his business partner and wife, Hellen Ward, questioned whether salons have been excluded from support because ‘we’re predominantly female-owned SMEs [small and medium sized businesses]’.

‘That really concerns me,’ she added.

The pair have been running their award-winning ‘super salon’ Hair & Metrospa in Sloane Square, west London, since 1992.

Their client list includes Elizabeth Hurley, Susanna Reid, Sophie Raworth and Sarah Parish.

Hellen, who is also the vice president of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAWE) and the co-founder of the Salon Employer’s Association, said the sector has already been left reeling after a surprise increase in employers’ national insurance contributions at the 2024 Budget.

Business rates increases will cost the famous Chelsea salon the equivalent of £6,000 a month, meaning margins are getting ‘slimmer and slimmer’, Hellen explained.

Richard and Hellen have been stylists to the stars for three decades at their Chelsea salon

She warned the higher taxes are stifling hiring across the sector. 

‘You can’t employ apprentices, we are not going to have any sector left in ten years time,’ she said. ‘It is just so short sighted.’

And the increases will bleed into prices, she warned, despite pressure on customers’ finances.

‘We can’t keep chucking price increases at customers – it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Chelsea or Chelmsford, people are price sensitive,’ she said. ‘You can’t just expect consumers to pick up the tab.’

Politicians regard the sector as ‘a bit of a joke’, she said, saying that when she meets MPs the first thing they will say is that ‘they pay diddly squat for their hair cuts’.

‘When we started our business 33 years ago, it wasn’t difficult to make a 10 per cent net profit,’ she said. ‘But now, if the business makes 1 per cent or 2 per cent ‘it will be a miracle – and you have to work three times as hard for that’.

While she would not ban MPs from the salon, she joked she would add extra charges to their bills to reflect the higher taxes. 

‘If you do a U-turn, even a slight one, you have to do a full U-turn. You can’t just do it for one and leave out other people,’ Hellen said.

‘We‘re just constantly overlooked and it does feel like, after Covid, hospitality got so many tax breaks that we didn’t get.’

The remarks follow warnings from The British Hair Consortium – which represents 50,000 hairdressers – that salons are now sacking staff and bringing them back on a self-employed basis to avoid the tax hikes and costs associated with Labour’s reforms of workers’ rights.

Hairdressers have long been calling for a lower VAT rate of 10 per cent on labour costs to help salons compete with a so-called ‘hidden’ economy.