“I’ll never retire – they’ll have to carry me out of here in a box!” These are the words of one of Coventry’s best known barbers, Paul Todd who turns 82 today (Sunday 22 March).
Paul has been at the centre of the city’s hairdressing industry for 67 years. Starting out as an apprentice while still a child, he gained recognition and city-wide fame in the 1960s when he was the unofficial barber of Coventry City footballers and staff.
His shop Sweeney Todd’s was one of the best-known salons around. At one stage he was based out of the Leofric Hotel and cut the hair of famous faces from stage and TV who were staying at the hotel while performing in Coventry.
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But it is probably his link to football that he is best known for. His rise to hairdressing esteem coincided with Coventry City’s ascension from the bottom rung of the football ladder to the top in a few short years. Paul kept the players looking tidy and stylish during this time. He was so renowned among them that even their famed manager Jimmy Hill frequented Paul’s shop.
After a glittering career and life, most barbers in their 80s would have long since hung up their scissors. Not Paul. He has been plying his trade as one of the partners at Sacci on Clay Lane since 1991.
CoventryLive caught up with the barber formerly known as Sweeney Todd to talk about his career in the city and why he has no plans to pack it in.
“I don’t want to retire, never,” Paul told us. “They’ll have to take me out in a box. In fact, what I want done when I pass on is to get stuffed and put me the window with strings moving my hands so it looks like I’m still cutting hair!”
Paul is sprightly and bright-eyed; he talks with an enthusiasm that is incredibly engaging. Still trim with a stylish barnet (as you’d expect) he has tons of star quality – he looks more like an aging London rock star than an octogenarian barber working in Upper Stoke.
Paul Todd from Saccis Hairdressers on Clay Lane Coventry
Talking about his early days in the industry, he said “I first started in 1959 in Ford Street in Coventry. I was only 15. When I started I was four foot eleven and the boss had to get me a box to stand on.
“I went to Jackson’s, which was the biggest hairdressers in the town at the time. I did my apprenticeship there.”
When his apprenticeship was done, Paul began making a name for himself.
“I won quite a few competitions, I won the West Midlands championships. That really put me on the map.”
With a growing number of clients, he decided it was time to branch out alone, and with some assistance he bought the only shop he could afford.
“I bought my first shop in Payne’s Lane with the help of my mum and dad. I think it cost about £500 to start the shop with the lease and everything.”
This was the mid-1960s, and without realising it, the cheapest spot in the city happened to be the perfect location, a mere Milan Van Ewijk throw-in from Highfield Road – the then home of Coventry City.
“It was near the football ground, but that wasn’t the plan – it was just the only place I could afford.”
Another stroke of luck is that Paul had grown up and was great pals with a certain Coventry defender who was a key part of the team at this stage.
“My best friend from school was a Coventry City player called Dietmar Bruck,” Paul explained. “We were great mates, more like brothers really. He started coming into the shop and then the other players started asking him where he got his hair cut. Eventually they all came in.
“They were always in the shop. They’d sit around talking with the customers. Apart from Dietmar, the first player I did from the City was John Sillett.”
Paul Todd cutting Dietmar Bruck’s hair
Then still a player, Sillett would go on to earn legend status at the club as the joint manager with George Curtis – another figure Paul crossed paths with. Curtis and Sillett famously led Coventry to FA Cup victory in 1987.
“John was lovely but George was another matter,” Paul laughed. “He was hard as nails. I remember once he grabbed me by the ear, it really hurt, then I found out he’d broken something in my ear!
“But he’d always sort me out with tickets, even when he was manager – a brilliant man but he could be quite scary.”
In the 1960s when Paul first had his shop, the top dog at Coventry City was the famous Jimmy Hill, chairman and manager, he had transformed the football club in countless ways both on and off the pitch.
But even he was taken in by Paul’s skill with a pair of scissors, and didn’t take offence when he was told to change his look.
Paul said: “One morning Jimmy Hill walked in and said, ‘Excuse me.’ I said, ‘Oh Hello, Mr Hill.’
READ MORE: Coventry’s Sweeney Todd – photos of famed city hairdresser through the years
“I told him I wasn’t keen on the style he had. I said, ‘You’ve got quite a long face and high hair – we should flatten it down.’ And he just went along with it.
“You wouldn’t believe how helpful Jimmy Hill was. He was so good to me.”
On one occasion Mr Hill was due to be interviewed by a reporter from The Sun. He made out he was busy but could do the interview while getting his hair cut by Paul, thus giving the then-young barber national exposure.
“He phoned me and said, ‘Are you busy?’ I’m bringing a newspaper reporter down for an interview’.
“The reporter said to Jimmy ‘What should the headline be?’ And Jimmy said, quick as a flash, ‘How about – Success starts at the top.’ And that was what went in the paper!”
Paul Todd from Saccis Hairdressers on Clay Lane Coventry
By the 1970s Paul had started Sweeney Todd with some fellow barbers.
“It was probably one of the busiest salons in the town,” he said “At one stage we had about seven hairdressers working there.”
Through the years he moved around a bit, though staying in Coventry. He left the industry briefly but returned as partner of Sacci, where he still works, in the early 1990s.
He has gathered and retained customers who have kept coming back – including some well known faces such as 1987 FA Cup winning goalkeeper and Sky Blues icon Steve Ogrizovic.
“One of my customers I first cut his in 1959,” Paul continued. “He sadly died last week and his daughters rang me to tell me – that’s how close you get to people.”
And it is examples like this why Paul has no plans to retire.
“Ninety-five per cent of my clients are friends now – they’re my mates, so I’m with friends all day.
“I’m in a job where I’m warm all day, cutting people’s hair and talking to them. Why would I stop?”
Despite rising to the top of his game, having cut hair in eight different decades, from the 1950s to the 2020s, and making countless friends along the way, Paul is still humble about his success.
“Everything that could have gone right for me, has gone right,” he shared. “I’ve been so lucky in my life and in my career. It’s honestly been wonderful.”
Happy birthday Paul, and here’s to many more years cutting hair in Coventry.
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