Review: The Groom Room in Dulwich Village

Finding a suitably good barber is one of those things that men do dread, because in general we don’t like to mess around trying different ones out, and neither do we like change! But grooming is a must, so we do our best!

I’ve had clinic duty 9-6 over the past 6 weeks and so getting a hair-cut wasn’t really possible as most barbers shut by the time I can get to them. I live in Peckham and in fact I’ve tried to visit some local barbers, but these didn’t seem suitable and one of them turned me away. But that’s another story. I’ve also had a very poor haircut from a barber that appeared to be very good from the outside – they had a nice and appropriate facade – but turned out to be a technically inferior cut.

One barber that I have enjoyed over the years has been Mr Topper’s. There’s a few of them scattered around in Camden as well as Tottenham Court Road. They basically hire hair stylists on a temporary basis (or so it would seem) and I’ve had many a great haircut from their staff. However – and this is a big fancy but – the staff turnover is high and when you go back for a haircut 6-8 weeks later, they’ve moved on or gone back to Oz (more often than not). Then you’re faced with the prospect of a barber who’s never cut your hair before, and you’ve got to explain what you want, etc. This can be just fine, but there will be the odd member of staff who will misunderstand and you’ve walked out with a number 1 crew cut before you can even have time to gasp. That consistency/continuity is key, so over time I’ve stopped going to Mr Topper’s.

Last Sunday I have decided that enough was enough and set about googling for a good barber locally. Relatively easy to find was The Groom Room, whom I found on google maps as well as twitter and before too long I was on their kick-ass website and I must say, their online presence is very good. On top of the smooth website (including a video), there were the positive tweets from customers as well as before/after pictures which didn’t look too shabby! This is what convinced me that The Groom Room was the place to go and try!

I rang them to check if I could bring my bike (their premises were 2.5 miles away from my house) and was informed that this wouldn’t be a problem, there was a handy garden that I could use. All sounded great so after a 15 minute bike ride I was there. I was shown to the garden which was secure enough for a bicycle and greeted by a nice chap who sat me within sight of the garden. He understood quickly what I wanted and promised me a look worthy of my patient-facing duties in clinic. A picture is worth a thousand words so here we go:

On the left is the before picture. Excuse the rosy cheeks – I had just cycled there. The hair, as you can see was in bad need of a cut.

On the right is the after picture and I went for a minimal change in style, but my friendly barber had cut the hair very neat around the back and sides, as well as thinning it out.

Overall I am very happy with the result. My barber was friendly and chatty. A nice lady whom I barely got to see delivered a strong turkish coffee. The lady whom I spoke with on the phone took some before and after pictures which will appear on their twitter at some point.

For more info they are on twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGroomRoom1 as well as having a detailed website: http://www.thegroomroom.co/

As a full-time student I am always looking for quality at a reasonable price and The Groom Room do offer a student rate. I was charged £17 on production of my student card. Overall I am happy with the result.

They get 4 stars!