A day in Arlesey with . . .
. . . Felix Camfield Walker
Felix Camfield Walker, runs Farleys, possibly Hitchin’s coolest unisex hair salon. He has lived in Arlesey for
three years with his wife Charlie and daughter Flora. His grandfather, Dick Walker was inventor of the Arlesey
Bomb (an angling weight now used by fishing enthusiasts worldwide).
Questions by Jodie Chillery
I notice you are one of a minority of regular Dads
to do the school run, what’s that like?
I do it most days of the week, there are a little gang
of us, we recognise that, occasionally we have
breakfast together at the scout hut (the Wednesday
pop up café) much to the amusement of our wives
and partners. It’s a privilege to take Flora to school,
I feel grateful that we’ve worked ourselves into a
position where I’m able to do that most of the time. I
make sure that my first appointment here is after the
school run. I get to say hello to the teachers she talks
about and her classmates and occasionally I get to go
on a school outing because I’m there to hear about it,
not on an email I get round to reading the day after
its happened.
She loves it too, especially if we go in one of the
cars, that’s a real treat.
The cars?
I like old cars, I’m a bit of a petrol head. I like fixing
them. I’ve got a VW Beetle and an old BMW
convertible. I drive them around, we just had a
weekend at the NSRA at Old Warden and then Ickle
Dub at The George - (Ickleford’s first classic car and
VW show). There were loads of split screen camper
vans and about 40 Beetles and there’s only room
for about 10 cars in the car park, it was more popular
than they expected I think.
This salon, is not just any old salon is it? It seems a
lifestyle choice, how did you come to be running a business
like this one?
Ten years ago I got very ill (Felix suffered a life
threatening brain haemorrhage) and I wasn’t able to work
for a year and when I was able to work again we decided we
weren’t going to work for anyone else we were going to do
our own thing.
It was very nerve wracking, I still had residual brain
damage and so I was finding everything difficult. But the
illness gave me an entirely new perspective and now I’m
not prepared to do anything I don’t believe in or don’t
want to - what’s the worst thing that can happen? I’ve
already experienced that, so…
Who are your customers?
It’s a 50/50 split male female, straight down the middle.
We’ve been quite conscious about keeping it mixed
although it possibly looks a bit masculine. I think there are
a lot of new people that have moved in to Hitchin and the
area and this is a little bit of Fulham or Islington for them,
so I get a lot of those people. We also get lots of kids as
well the age range generally is 8 months to 80 years. We
don’t alienate anyone, everyone is welcome. We’ve got
old, young transgender, straight, everyone is welcome
and they’re not really clients they’re friends.
St Peter’s Old School
10
on the button issue 49 September 2016 |
01462 834265 |
[email protected] |
www.on-the-button.co.uk