A salon where staff focus on “helping promote Darwen” and saved a historic building is nominated for Lancashire Telegraph award.

Brookside Hair and Beauty, in Duckworth Street, opened 15 years ago in the former site of the pub with the same name.

After hearing that the site was set to be demolished, owner Stephanie Ashcroft and her father refurbished the building and gave life back to a historical part of the town.

Stephanie said: “I think it is amazing for us as a business. We have been there for 15 years now, and we have built up quite a loyal customer base and it is nice to see everyone want to vote for us.

“It is helping to promote Darwen as a place to go. When we opened our salon, it was a dilapidated old pub and whoever was going to buy it was going to demolish the whole building.

“My biggest thing as the business owner is to create awareness for Darwen and the high level of service and you don’t have to travel outside of our area and spend their money locally.

“The whole mission for us to purchase the building was to bring the building back to life that was historical for our town and to bring a salon to Darwen that was more than what we have got already in the town.”

Specialising in BIAB nails, lashes, massages and facials they have developed a loyal customer base.

Beauty room at Brookside Beauty room at Brookside (Image: Stephanie Ashcroft)

To reward customers after the pandemic the salon did another renovation and encouraged people to spend their time there.

Stephanie added: “When times were hard, we put more money into it so we are giving our customers more in turn for their loyalty.

“We were trying to guarantee that we would give something really nice and a good place to spend your time. When people started coming back, we ploughed more money into it.”

Employing seven staff they also offer hair treatments and Stephanie says that it is a full team effort.

She added: “I think if we were to win it means a lot to the team that works there daily, and it shows what a good job they are doing and trying to deliver the best quality of service that they can. It is good to be recognised for that.”

Readers can vote for the ‘Best Beauty Salon 2024’ by picking up copies of the Lancashire Telegraph between Monday, September 30 to Saturday, October 12.