BORIS’S announcement of a second lockdown on Saturday sent Haslemere’s businesses into a frenzy this week, as retailers, salons and other town centre firms scrambled to fit in as much trade as possible before Thursday’s shut-down.

And it was an even more eventful week than most for Eden Hair and Beauty in Junction Place, where staff worked until the early hours of Sunday to bring forward appointments – and just hours later learned they had reached the finals of a prestigious industry award.

Kelly Hudson, Eden marketing manager, said: “As soon as Boris made his announcement, we were chatting away on our WhatsApp group to find out who could work on Sunday, and we were getting people booked in via email until 1am.

“We had five stylists fully booked on the Sunday, 9am to 5pm, when we also discovered we had reached the final of Salon Awards UK. And then worked Monday 7am to 10pm, and on Wednesday we’re working 7am until midnight, fully booked again.”

Kelly added Eden, which has employed eight new stylists since July to meet demand, has been nominated in not just one but two categories; ‘Best Salon’ and ‘Marketing Trailblazers’.

The finals will be held virtually in December and a “huge celebratory window” is set to replace Eden’s current poppy display after November 12.

She continued: “Despite the new rules and uncertainty of the last few months, we are actually feeling really optimistic as a business going into the second lockdown.

“We will be keeping in touch as a team and continuing to complete online hairdressing training courses and watching tutorial webinars, as well as posting on social media to keep in touch with clients.

“We will keep our bookings email and app open for people to book for their post-lockdown, pre-Christmas hair, where we plan to continue working in two smaller team shifts from 7am to 10pm up to six days a week, and being open on Sunday to accommodate everyone before Christmas.

“Knowing that we survived the first lockdown and that we have so many fantastically supportive clients, both long standing and new, and operate in such a wonderful community, will make this lockdown a little easier. Also, safe in the knowledge that our hard work has been recognised nationally by industry leaders with our award finalist statuses!”