A POPULAR Kendal hair salon has celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The Ruby Tuesday hair salon, located on Finkle Street, marked the occasion with a party with members of staff and its valued clients.

Owners Denise Thompson and Nichola Chapman have reflected on the last decade of business and look forward to many more successful years working in Kendal.

Denise is from Glasgow and moved to Kendal 15 years ago, while Nichola is from Kirkby Stephen.

Both ladies have used their experience in the trade and backgrounds in education to build the very popular business in the town.

Denise said: "Me and Nichola met when we were at college. At the time we were doing some teaching work on our courses and we really got on.

“It really built from there.

“We got on really well.

“She used to work at a place called Zacks and I would work there sometimes during the holidays so we had worked well together.

“We came up with the idea to get a place in Kendal as Nichola was looking for a new business partner.

“It was a small business at the time so we wanted to open something new.

“We talked about it and planned for it for over a year before we found the premises that we thought we could do well in.

“We found the salon and it really snowballed from there."

Denise said living in Kendal was 'very different living in the city but it’s such a good place that has made us feel very welcomed from the start'.

"We’ve made lots of friends here and it’s been a very good time for us," she said.

“On the day we had a little party together with our staff and some of our clients.

“There was some cake and lots of balloons. We also did a little raffle for the clients. They put their names in and the one who won got a special pampering.

“We’ve seen a few changes in trade over the last ten years, including shopping going online in the high streets. But we are lucky because we have a very loyal core following of local clients which we are very grateful for.

“We are looking forward to growing our fantastic team and raising the next generation of barbers and stylists with our apprentices.

“We feel unbelievably humbled by the support we’ve got from all our clients. We’re so pleased to see everyone since our reopening and the messages of support have been so touching.

“We’re really grateful and we look forward to see everyone as much as possible.”