The barber giving the homeless free Xmas haircuts

A barber shop is opening its doors to the homeless and those in need for free haircuts and beard trims this Christmas Day.

Royal Barber in Tyldesley, Leigh, will be open on 25 December from 11:00 - 16:00 GMT, offering free-of-charge appointments to "anyone who might need it" this Christmas.

Owner Shahram Hosseini, 22, from Bolton said: "It was a no-brainer to take this time to give back. The community gives us a lot of help and they're so nice, so it's the least we could do."

Mr Hosseini first offered the free festive cuts last Christmas: "We want everyone to know they matter to us and they matter to the world, because it's Christmas and they have to enjoy it," he said.

Mr Hosseini has been a barber for almost five years and opened his shop on Elliott Street just over a year and a half ago.

He said he came up with the idea of offering the free festive service last year.

He said last year 11 attendees arrived for the free Christmas Day service. But this year, he expected more customers as people became aware of the event.

"This year we expecting at least a minimum of 20 people to come because we have told every customer about it, and raised awareness," he said.

"We expect a lot of people to come because there are a lot of people in need of it, poor people and homeless people as well.

"It feels amazing to see the transformation," he said.

"We just want people to be happy and to smile.

"People come in and they're not happy, maybe they look messy and then we treat them, they get free drinks, they get to have some sweets or whatever they want and then we go in the process of making them look beautiful.

"You see their confidence - when they look 10 times better they seem to be 10 times happier and smile 10 times better."

Mr Hosseini said it was a "great feeling" to help people and to "know you're doing something good" - but he also said the act of charity isn't about receiving thanks.

"We don't do it for thank yous, we don't do it for appreciation, we don't expect anything in return - we're just helping out.

"Charity is important and even if we don't celebrate Christmas, we're willing to help out.

"It won't take us much to do this but it will affect a lot of people and make a lot of people feel good."

He added: "We hope we're going to set an example for everyone and to be a role model for people seeing it - and we hope other businesses will do the same."

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