The Best Barbers in London Sell Minutes, Not Haircuts

A haircut in central London costs twenty pounds or it costs two hundred and twenty five. Both prices are real, both are published, and the difference between them is mostly time.

Murdock sell a fifteen minute clipper cut for twenty pounds with nothing done on top. Truefitt & Hill sell ninety minutes for two hundred and twenty five, which includes a cut, a hot towel shave, a manicure and a facial. Neither is overcharging. They are selling different lengths of the same afternoon.

The useful thing is that all three of the shops here print the minutes next to the money, which almost no London barber does. Read that column first and the price list stops being confusing.

The oldest in the world

Truefitt & Hill, 71 St James’s Street

Opened in 1805 on the day of Trafalgar, and named by Guinness World Records as the oldest barbering business anywhere.

Truefitt & Hill

Address

71 St James’s Street, its home since 1994. Founded at 2 Cross Lane, Long Acre

Nearest

Green Park, four minutes. Piccadilly Circus, seven

Hours

Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm. Saturday 8.30am to 5pm. Closed Sunday

Booking

Online through Booksy, which is where their own site now sends you, or appointments@truefittandhill.co.uk

Price

Haircut and shampoo 60 pounds for 30 minutes. Traditional hot towel wet shave 60 for 30. Head shave 60 for 30. Beard and moustache trim 55, or 60 with a shave. Shampoo and blow dry 35. Scalp massage, shampoo and cut 120 for an hour. Traditional shaving class 120. Grooming Experience 165 for an hour. Ultimate Grooming Experience 225 for 90 minutes

Standing

Francis William Truefitt opened his first salon in 1805. Named by Guinness World Records in 2000 as the oldest barbering business in the world

How to get in

Their own ledger is worth reading before you sit down. The salon stayed open through the Blitz, moving briefly to Burlington Gardens after bomb damage, and their own note records that Battle of Britain pilots came in for a shave before setting out for their airfields. Field Marshal Montgomery unveiled the 150 year plaque in 1955. One booking rule matters: any colour service needs a patch test at least 24 hours beforehand, so it cannot be added on the day. The head shave is done with a straight razor and repeated twice. In 2026 they announced a fragrance made with Huntsman of Savile Row, which is the two oldest trades on these streets finally sharing a bottle.

The one with the full price list

Geo. F. Trumper, Duke of York Street and Curzon Street

Barbers and perfumers, and the cheapest of the three traditional houses to walk into.

Geo. F. Trumper

Address

1 Duke of York Street, SW1Y 6JP, just off Jermyn Street. Second shop at 9 Curzon Street, W1J 5HQ in Mayfair

Nearest

Piccadilly Circus or Green Park for Duke of York Street. Green Park for Curzon Street

Booking

By appointment, with a deposit taken at the time of booking

Price

Hair cut from 45 pounds. Wet shave with hot towels from 50. Head shave from 50. Full beard trim and shaping from 30. Moustache trim, curl and wax from 15. Threading from 15. Head massage and shampoo from 30. Shampoo and blow dry from 20. Friction from 10. Shaving lessons 100 with a cartridge razor, 150 with an open razor

Standing

Barbers and perfumers for well over a century, selling their own shaving creams, soaps and colognes alongside the salon

How to get in

Two restrictions hide inside the price list. Manicures, pedicures and facials are offered on Wednesday and Thursday only, which rules out a Friday appointment that includes them. And the named master barber sessions, two hours at 150 to 200 pounds with Mr Refat, Mr Sadik or Mr Sezgin, run at Curzon Street only and not at the St James’s shop, so book the right address. They also publish a skin condition notice: declare any rash, infection, open wound or severe acne when you book, because they reserve the right to refuse a shave that would aggravate it.

The modern one

Murdock London

Four shops, a twenty pound entry price and, crucially, Sunday opening.

Murdock London

Address

83 Brewer Street in Soho, W1F 9ZN. 18 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, WC2H 9HB. 46 Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, E2 7DP. Plus Broadgate, at Lower Ground 14, 1 Broadgate, EC2A 2BQ

Nearest

Piccadilly Circus for Soho, Covent Garden for Monmouth Street, Shoreditch High Street for Redchurch Street, Liverpool Street for Broadgate

Hours

Soho Monday to Friday 10am to 7.30pm, Saturday 9am to 5.30pm, Sunday 11am to 5pm. Covent Garden from 8am Monday to Wednesday, to 8pm, and Sunday 11am to 5pm. Shoreditch closed Sunday

Booking

Online through their own booking system, which also takes bookings for groups of two to six

Price

The One Grade 20 pounds for 15 minutes. Style and Go 20 for 15. The Back and Sides 42 for 30. The Haircut 52 for 45. The Restyle Haircut 66 for an hour. The Haircut with Scalp Treatment 88 for 75 minutes

Standing

Bringing traditional London barbering into a modern shop for over a decade, with their own grooming range sold alongside

How to get in

This is the one that solves the two problems the older houses do not. It opens on a Sunday at Soho and Covent Garden, and Covent Garden starts at eight in the morning from Monday to Wednesday, which makes a shave before work possible. Read the service names carefully, because they are honest rather than flattering: The One Grade at twenty pounds is clippers all over with nothing cut on top, Style and Go includes no haircut at all, and The Back and Sides asks you to arrive with your hair already washed because no wash is included. Worth knowing that their own locations page lists three shops while their booking system offers four, so Broadgate exists but is easy to miss.

How to read a barber price list

Look at the minutes before the money. Every shop here prints both. Twenty pounds buys fifteen minutes and sixty buys thirty, which is a smaller gap than the headline suggests once you divide.

The cheap option is a shorter haircut, not a cheaper one. Murdock’s twenty pound service is clippers all over with no work on top and no consultation. Their full haircut is forty five minutes and fifty two pounds. Both are the same barbers.

Colour needs a patch test 24 hours ahead. Truefitt & Hill publish this against both their colour services. It cannot be added to an appointment on the day, so if colour is the point of the visit, book two days.

Some treatments run on set days only. Trumper offer manicures, pedicures and facials on Wednesday and Thursday and not otherwise. Their named master barber sessions are at Curzon Street and not at St James’s.

Sunday is Murdock or nothing. Soho and Covent Garden both open eleven to five on a Sunday. Shoreditch does not. The traditional houses in St James’s add a Saturday and stop there, Truefitt & Hill to five and Trumper to five, which is the same rule that governs Savile Row and most of Jermyn Street.

Expect to pay something when you book. Trumper take a deposit at the time of booking. Declare skin conditions then as well, because a shave can be refused at the chair.

Everything here was taken from each barber’s own published information and booking system, and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Prices marked from are starting figures and vary by barber and branch. Confirm when you book.

Oxford Street is the other end of the same trip, and worth timing: the big stores trade twelve and a half hours a day except on Sunday, when they manage six.

Harrods is the seven day alternative when the St James’s houses have shut for the weekend.

The best bookshops in London has the trade that beats both of these for age. Hatchards opened in 1797, eight years before Truefitt & Hill.

Where to go next

Jermyn Street is a minute from two of these chairs and covers the rest of the street, including the shirtmaker holding the King’s warrant and the cheesemonger trading since 1797.

Savile Row is the suit half of the same subject, and in 2026 the two trades met: Truefitt & Hill and Huntsman announced a fragrance together.

Private spas and spa days cover the longer version of the same afternoon, and London dress codes covers what any of it is actually for.

Questions we get asked

What are the best barbers in London?

Truefitt & Hill at 71 St James’s Street, founded 1805 and named by Guinness World Records as the oldest barbering business in the world. Geo. F. Trumper on Duke of York Street just off Jermyn Street, and at 9 Curzon Street in Mayfair, which publishes the fullest price list in London. Murdock London for four modern shops, Sunday opening and an eight in the morning start at Covent Garden.

How much is a haircut in London?

Between 20 and 66 pounds at the shops here, depending on how long you book. Murdock charge 20 for a fifteen minute clipper cut, 52 for a full 45 minute haircut and 66 for an hour long restyle. Geo. F. Trumper start at 45. Truefitt & Hill charge 60 for a thirty minute cut and shampoo. The minutes explain most of the difference.

How much is a hot towel shave in London?

Sixty pounds for thirty minutes at Truefitt & Hill on St James’s Street, including pre shave oil, hot towels, the shave itself, an aftershave balm and a cologne. Geo. F. Trumper charge from fifty for a wet shave with hot towels, and from fifty for a head shave. Trumper take a deposit when you book.

Can you learn to shave properly in London?

Yes, and both traditional houses teach it. Geo. F. Trumper run shaving lessons at 100 pounds with a cartridge razor and 150 with an open, cut throat razor. Truefitt & Hill run a Traditional Shaving Class at 120 pounds, which is a half hour shave by a master barber followed by instruction on using an open razor yourself.

Are any London barbers open on Sunday?

Murdock London open their Soho shop on Brewer Street and their Covent Garden shop on Monmouth Street from 11am to 5pm on Sundays. Their Shoreditch shop on Redchurch Street is closed. The traditional St James’s houses keep weekday hours. Covent Garden also opens at eight in the morning from Monday to Wednesday.

What is the oldest barber shop in London?

Truefitt & Hill, which Guinness World Records named in 2000 as the oldest barbering business in the world. Francis William Truefitt opened his first salon in 1805 at 2 Cross Lane, Long Acre, on the day of Trafalgar. The firm merged with Edwin Hill in 1935 and has been at 71 St James’s Street since 1994. It stayed open through the Blitz.