THE number of barbers in Amesbury is "taking away from the soul of the town". 

That's according to resident and Wiltshire Councillor for the area, Mark Verbinnen. 

There are about eight barbershops in the town, concentrated on Salisbury Street.

Cllr Verbinnen told the Journal: "We do have a lot of these new barbers now appearing in the town and it does seem to be taking away from the soul of the town, which should be focussing on its heritage and history and being a centre for people to come and shop and visit."

Councillor Mark Verbinnen is worried about the number of barbershops in Amesbury (Image: Charles Elliman) Cllr Verbinnen also works at the nearby George Hotel and the Amesbury History Centre.

He said: "There is obviously a space for barbers, but the question is why do these new ones keep appearing?"

One long-time barber lamented his loss of custom, saying, "I’ve lost about 30 per cent of my business really."

The barbershop owner, who did not want to be named, talked with Mark and the Journal outside his near-empty shop on Salisbury Street.

The barber said: "I spoke to the chamber of trade [...] they tried to speak to one of the landlords and the landlord informed him that its was on the market, but nobody actually came forward to rent it, other than these barbershops, so he had no choice but to rent it out to them."

He continued: "There’s a moral issue there as well, you see, these landlords are happy to take the rent but they also have to understand where its coming from as well."

Turkish-style barbershops have become a phenomenon in recent years and have become a fixture on many high streets.

Bilal Gaze, the 31 year-old owner of Amesbury Barbers told the Journal: "Just because there’s a lot of military around here and I found a shop here, and that’s it."

Bilal said the prospect of military customers drew him to set-up his business (Image: Charles Elliman) Originally from Iraq, the Kurdish man came to the UK with his brother and is from a family of barbers.

Bilal said he would not have taken on the lease of his shop if he had known more barbershops would have sprung up after his.

Bilal said: "You can’t tell people, ‘Oh, you can’t open here!’, or ‘Why you do that?’, you can’t do it. Just mind your own business."

The Journal asked the barbershop owner if he thought racism was behind some of the concern surrounding Turkish-style barbers.

He said: "Maybe five per cent are racist? The other 95 per cent are really good people."

Antalya Barbers is not happy with the influx of barbershops (Image: Charles Elliman)

Antalya Barbers has been in Amesbury for over six years and it was one of the only barbershops to have a customer on Tuesday morning.

The owner did not want to be named, but he said: "I see so many posts on social media, Facebook, with people saying they are not happy with so many barbershops.

"People think, ‘Is something else going on behind this?'

"I don’t know! I wouldn’t say yes; I wouldn’t say no. I haven’t seen anything."

Taking aim at the newer Turkish-style barbershops opened in recent months, the Antalya owner said: "I’m not happy with them as well!"