Mayfair Barber Shop With Mahogany Cubicles: Geo. F. Trumper on Curzon Street

Geo. F. Trumper cuts hair at 9 Curzon Street, London W1J 5HQ, where a haircut starts from £45 and a wet shave with hot towels from £50. The Mayfair shop is open 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday, closed on Sunday. You can walk in or telephone, which makes it a rare barber shop near me answer that still works without an app.

Trumper's own website keeps the history brief, saying the shop has stood in the heart of Mayfair for over 100 years. Published histories of the firm date it to 1875, when George Francis William Trumper set up as a gentlemen's barber, and they describe Curzon Street as the original shop. The company still runs a second barbershop on Duke of York Street in St James's, under the same name and the same hours.

What survives from those early decades is the room itself. The Curzon Street shop keeps its mahogany panelled private cubicles, so each customer sits in a wooden booth instead of a long open row of chairs. Glass cabinets along the front hold the house's shaving creams, soaps, colognes and leather goods. The shop is air-conditioned, and it has wheelchair access, a detail Trumper states on its services page.

The Wet Shave and Hot Towels service, from £50, is the one Trumper is known for. Barbers use specially made open razors and fit a new blade for every shave, according to the firm's service page. Hot towels go on before the razor, which is the point of the service: the heat softens the beard so a fresh blade can take it close in a single careful pass. If you only book one thing on Curzon Street, book this rather than a plain trim.

For a full morning, the haircut from £45 pairs with a Head Massage and Shampoo from £30 or a Face Massage with Barber from £30. Beard wearers can book a Full Beard Trim and Shaping from £30, and a Moustache Trim, Curl and Wax from £15 keeps a handlebar in order. A Friction, the old-fashioned scalp tonic rub, costs from £10 and is the cheapest way into the cubicle.

The top of the list belongs to the Master Barber Premium Service, offered only at Curzon Street. For £200, Mr Refat spends two hours on a haircut, a wet shave and eyebrow threading. It is a splurge, and for most visitors the £50 shave delivers the core of the experience. Save the premium slot for a wedding morning or a milestone birthday, when two hours in the chair feels earned.

Trumper also teaches. A Shaving Lesson with an open razor costs £150, and a version with a cartridge razor costs £100. The lesson suits anyone who has bought a straight razor and found it intimidating, because an hour beside a working barber beats any video tutorial. Afterwards the shop's shelves of brushes, razors and shaving soaps are right there, which is the obvious commercial logic behind the class.

There is no online booking platform listed on the site. When you book ahead, Trumper takes a £5 deposit by debit or credit card, in person or over the phone, and cancelling within 24 hours of the appointment forfeits that deposit. For a Saturday slot, ring a few days ahead rather than gambling on a walk-in.

One house rule is worth knowing before you sit down. The barbers will not perform shaves or services that may aggravate existing skin conditions, so anyone with a flare-up of eczema or razor rash should mention it on the phone. The barber may suggest a beard trim or a massage instead. Manicures are offered only on Wednesday and Thursday, from £30, so plan a nail appointment around those two days.

Trumper's page lists the Ritz and the Dorchester among its neighbours, and the address shapes the trade: guests from those hotels, Mayfair office workers on a weekday break, and shoppers who come for the house fragrances, Eucris, Extract of Limes and Sandalwood among them, often as gifts. The shop also runs a click and collect service for products, so plenty of visitors come only for the counter.

Green Park Underground Station, on the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, is the nearest Tube, a short walk north-west through the streets behind Piccadilly. Curzon Street runs between Park Lane and Berkeley Square, and Trumper sits near the Shepherd Market end. Look for the shopfront with displays of grooming requisites in the window, since the shop is at street level.

Directly next door, Heywood Hill has sold old and new books on Curzon Street since August 1936, and its narrow shop is worth ten minutes after a shave. A few steps south, the lanes of Shepherd Market hold small pubs and restaurants in a tight village of eighteenth-century streets, an easy place for lunch while your skin settles.

Head east along Curzon Street and Berkeley Square opens up within a few minutes, with its old plane trees and benches. South through the Shepherd Market passages you reach Piccadilly and the Ritz, and across the road Green Park itself, a quiet stretch of lawn for a walk back toward the Tube before heading home freshly shaved.

Address: 9 Curzon Street, London W1J 5HQ. Hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday closed. Haircut from £45; Wet Shave and Hot Towels from £50; Full Beard Trim and Shaping from £30. Deposit £5 on bookings, forfeited inside 24 hours. Wheelchair access is available at Curzon Street.

It sits east of Green Park off Jermyn Street, a walk across Piccadilly, which makes it a sensible fallback. Neither shop opens on Sunday, so weekend visitors should aim for Saturday morning, when the doors open at 9am.