City barber shop employs baristas as it opens on-site café

A barber shop in the city is offering customers a coffee with their cut after opening a café.

Swagger and Jacks in Orford Hill has always offered its customers a hot drink while they are in the chair but now the shop will be taking its offering to a new level by bringing in its own baristas.

Owner and founder Mark Young said the business had opened the café in its 10th year in order to improve the customer experience.

"We've always served coffee but now we have proper baristas as well as a wide food offering with things like sandwiches, paninis and croissants," he said. "Everything we serve comes from local Norwich companies, for example the coffee is from Little Red Roaster.

"We serve a wide variety of coffee, including decaf and different dairy free products, we're also going to focus on healthy foods and juices."

Mr Young said the new offering was already proving popular with customers, with many bringing their families with them to enjoy a coffee and a sandwich while they had a snip.

He added: "It's been really successful so far, people are even coming in just for lunch and not having a haircut, as we've got an area upstairs where they can sit and eat.

"On Saturdays it's really popular for families who come in and while the dad will have a haircut the rest will sit and have something to eat.

"People can also come on their lunch break and have a haircut and also have their lunch in time to go back to the office.

"But above all it's about creating a community and serving our customers."

It comes after the shop extended its clothing offering by becoming an official stockist of Dickies and Carhartt ahead of a number of new additions to celebrate its 10th anniversary year.