AN award-winning Barrhead barber is to give others a head start in the industry...by opening his own academy.

Davie Walker has earned a glowing reputation for providing cool cuts and sleek styles at his salons in Grahamston Road, Barrhead, and Causeyside Street, Paisley.

Now he is expanding his ‘Davie the Barber’ empire by opening a barbers’ academy at his Barrhead base.

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Davie will employ four students, who have spent a year at college, and provide training, with the prospect of then gaining a full-time position on the shop floor once they are fully qualified.

He is confident the venture will be a big success.

Davie told the Barrhead News: “The hardest thing in this industry just now is that people are going away and having to pay £6,000 to get six months of training.

“They’re going out ‘into the wild’ before they are ready to do the job properly. They’re not trained highly enough and they’re left in limbo, not knowing where to go.

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“I’ve been in this industry for 21 years and I’ve been watching people paying extreme money for six months of training and then coming out of that while they still need more training.

“We’ve designed our academy not to charge the students but to pay them to train. We’re going to flip it.”

Students at the academy will be supervised by a member of staff who can ‘teach them as they go.’

Davie added: “We are creating this opportunity by doing things a bit different, as we won’t be charging the students to train at the academy. Even if they’re leaving with £20 in their pocket, they will still be getting paid to train.

“It is giving something back and giving them opportunities, as there will be a job for them at the end of their training.

“We are finding that a lot of barbers who have done training can’t get jobs because they aren’t ready for the shop floor.

“What they’ve learned at college are just the basics and the industry is so advanced now that they aren’t getting the opportunity, so we are hoping to create that opportunity for them.”

Alterations at the shop mean that, with six stations and its own photography studio, the progress being made by the trainees can be continuously monitored.

Davie said: “Within a year, we should be able to offer the guys a job and then take on another four students.

“With our academy, they will build up a clientele base and, by the time they are ready to jump onto the shop floor, they’ll already have their clients.”