A BARBER was so engrossed in conversation while watching the flooding hit Northwich that he forgot he had locked an Environment Agency officer in his salon.

Paul Johnson – who run’s Johnson’s Gentleman’s Hair Salon, or ‘Johnno’s’ as it’s more commonly known – was chatting with mate Tim Shaw from Northwich Carpets and Laminates before the pair decided to go for coffee on Thursday.

They asked an Environment Agency officer working on the floods outside if he wanted a drink, but he instead asked to use Paul’s bathroom.

Paul let the officer in before locking up to go for a coffee with Tim, before heading to see the river level rise – where the pair remained for 40 minutes, leaving the Environment Agency officer stuck in the salon.

Paul told the Guardian: “Someone who knows [Cllr] Mal Gaskill was walking past the salon when the guy was banging on the windows and he asked ‘do you know who it was that has locked me in?’

“Mal called to say the police were after me for abducting a guy from the Environment Agency.

“We must have been gone for 40 minutes. I said to Tim ‘I’ve locked that guy in’ and we both burst out laughing. I had completely forgotten all about him.

“I felt so sorry for him and I apologised, but he was laughing about it and he said it was alright. It’s a good job I didn’t set the alarm system as the slightest movement would have set it off.”

Paul moved to his current premises in Queen Street back in 2002, having been hit by flooding twice in a week in 2000 at his previous shop in London Road, where Butcher and Barlow is now located.

“That convinced me to move to what I believed would be a safer location,” Paul said.

Northwich Guardian:

The scene outside Johnno's on Thursday. Image: Matt Sayle

“But what we have seen over the last few days has been just heartbreaking. My head was all over the place, people were ringing me. I went into town and I could have cried.

“I don’t have flood insurance because I’m too close to the river, but we were so lucky at Queen Street.

“I have been back in the cellar today and there’s about 5ft of water in the cellar, but luckily it didn’t come into the salon.”

The floods have compounded the misery for many businesses in Northwich that have already been affected by Covid-19.

Hairdressing salons have been hit particularly hard – but businesses across town are pulling together to support each other through this latest crisis.

Paul added: “In our industry we have a fantastic clientele, and it is a personal service, but with Covid it has been taken away from us.

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“I rang Charles [Rose] at Crate, he’s been struggling and I offered to help him tidy up. If he needs anywhere to store stuff he can come here.

“But Ian Lister at the Hair Shop, the lads at Fox Hairdressing and Hair at Mike – everyone has been ringing around sending their best wishes.”