At the grand old age of 81 barber Alf Roxby is still cutting it.
And while grandad Alf is probably the oldest crimper in the country, he is also one of the cheapest.

Customers never complain about his prices. The pensioners’ rate is 70p and others range from £1.50 to £2.

He has been in the trade for 68 years and is still working four days a week.
Alf started as a hairdressing apprentice in 1936 and has no plans to retire.

He says: “When people ask me when I’m going to pack it in, I tell them `When I’m old!’”
Widower Alf has only had one break from cutting hair – the five years he spent fighting for his country.
Born in 1922, he was the youngest of five sons and, at 14, started work as an apprentice.

He has been in his present shop, in Front Street, Fence Houses, near Houghton-le-Spring, since 1946.
The only time he thought of packing it in was when Mary, his wife of 41 years, died in 1988 at the age of 66.

Alf considered moving to Hertfordshire where his son, Peter, 52, lives with his wife and three children.
But he decided to stay. Alf said: “I still enjoy what I do and my customers are my friends. I like a laugh and a joke with them all.

“I’m still in good physical condition and my mind is still there, so why should I pack it in?”
“My work keeps me in touch with people and what’s going on in the world. I’ve got no intention of retiring.”

Alf will be 82 on December 20 and says: “I used to tell my mother I was the best Christmas box she ever had!”

He served as a naval gunner for five years during the Second World War and was aboard HMS Webster when she was sunk by a German torpedo in the Mediterranean.

He said: “I never cut anyone’s hair during the five years I was in the war. I enjoyed the break, but I was glad when I got back to it.”

Most of his customers are pensioners but when younger men ask for more than the usual short-back-and-sides he’s prepared for them.

He said: “I can do anything they want – even the fancy stuff they ask for these days.”
Alf has hung up his scissors a couple of years ago now, he is retired and living with his son down South.

What a man.