A WINCHESTER barbers has opened up a café to fill a gap in the community.
Maverick Barbers, in Stanmore, is now welcoming customers to its outdoor café offering breakfasts, baps, burgers, veggie options and more.
As one of the only cafés in the area, owner Claire Maverick is hoping to bring the community together and provide a go-to spot for students’ hangover cures.
Winchester City Council approved Ms Maverick’s application to introduce a cafe, in Cromwell Road, years ago but the barbers got too busy so it remained a dream up until the opening this month.
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Ms Maverick, 34, said: “We’ve had such a good first week with the café, it’s now just letting people know that we are down here as there’s nothing else like this over this way.
“We’re hoping to have some inside seating soon and have delivery options too but the response has been really good. People have been saying that our burgers are better than Five Guys.
“I’m really impulsive so we managed to pull it all together in about a month but it’s an idea we have had for ages.
“Unless people follow us on social media I doubt they will know that we are open. We’re grateful for our customers and this expansion is for the community.
“There’s a lot of bravado around barber shops but we are really friendly. We get involved with lots of charity stuff and schools and we sponsor university and youth teams and some motocross racers. This is what makes us stand out because we’re an old-school community barbers, we’re friends with everyone.
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“Hopefully the café will give somewhere for our lovely older people to go. It’s really important to have a community, for people’s mental health and it’s vital to our existence.
“I always wanted a shop in the community and not in the city centre.”
The cafe is open 9am to 4pm but the plan is to extend hours to 6pm next month.
The business is also launching drum circles as well as mental health walks next month, with the idea being to create a Maverick’s ramblers’ group.
Anyone interested should keep an eye out for updates on Maverick’s social media pages.
The team is currently made up of four hairdressers and two new members working in the café but Ms Maverick is recruiting another barber.
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