Yahoo News 'Normal mum and dad' who have turned former bank into something 'breathtaking'
An "iconic" bank building which has stood in a Liverpool town for decades has been transformed into a stylish new salon. Last month, the ECHO reported how husband-and-wife Laina and Michael Foott had taken over the former TSB Bank building on Speke Road, Garston, which has stood out on the road for generations with it bold blue clock.
In September 1939, the site opened as Liverpool Savings Bank, later becoming a TSB Bank until June 2022, with the company at the time stating reasons were related to people using online banking and less people visiting its physical branches. For the last seven years, Laina and Michael have rented the building next door to the bank, running salon Anya Hairdressing & Beauty.
But when Michael, 41, saw the site was up for auction, the couple got the idea to transform the old bank building into a stylish new venue for their family business, which is named after their daughter, Anya. Back in April, they got the keys to the site and from there, Laina and Michael have researched much of the buildings history and heard memories from local residents.
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Laina told the ECHO the focus of the project has been retaining as many original features as possible, including the "iconic" blue clock which has been outside the building for decades. This weekend, September 28, the business officially launches in its new home and the ECHO were given a first look inside.
Laina, 39, told the ECHO: "We hit a couple of obstacles, but we we found ways around it to keep all the original features that we could keep, like, getting the clock down, cleaned, refurbished, and put back up. The feedback that we've got off everybody now that the clock actually works is really is really good.
"It's breath-taking. It's just really, really exciting. The girls and I can't wait to go inside and actually work, working with so much space as well. We've all had our little bits of input to put in of how we've wanted to work.
"It's just been lovely - it's really positive. People have come in and cried and they've all got lovely memories, people who who live in Garston who've got a real connection with Garston.
"A man came in today and he's coming down tomorrow. He's been showing me loads of old pictures and he's a local historian, so he's absolutely delighted."
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Now complete, customers can enter the salon through an automatic door to see a "contemporary décor" combined with many of the old banks' original features. The salon includes a reception desk, a seating area with a coffee machine, seven hairdressing stations and a nail technician on the ground floor and rooms for treatments, eyelashes, aesthetics and semi-permanent makeup and more.
Upstairs, customers will also find more hairdressing stations and a makeup station. Laina and Michael said they are proud of the business expanding and all who have been involved and supported them.
They also wanted to thanks Mark Smith and Joe Monaghan of Bespoke LED services, who specialise in both supplying and installing LED lighting. Michael said: "It's been months of hard work for me and my lads. We're very proud of what we've achieved in these five months. We just feel lucky, to be honest.
"It was just by chance that we found out that the bank was getting sold, so we sort of bounced on it straight away. Start to finish we've just cracked on and some very, very clever fellas have been involved.
"We want to get across how grateful and appreciative we are as a family to get the chance to own this building and thankyou to everyone who has been involved."
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Laina previously said: "I have been hairdressing from school so over 20 years and I still have clients from 20 years ago and they couldn't be anything but happy for us. Michael and I have been together since we were kids. I feel really lucky to be able to do it and to help people as well. The girls who work together, we're like one little family.
"We are just a normal family, a normal mum and dad with two kids who go to work every day. It's something for our kids when they grow up, they'll always have something. If anyone has any stories about the building, we'd love to her about it."
