Fuchsia Hair & Beauty: The Yorkshire salon named as the best in the country

Lisa Conner opened Fuchsia Hair & Beauty around ten years ago, moving to the current location on Winding Road in Halifax, four years ago.

After winning best hair and beauty salon in Yorkshire, Lisa then beat the best of the rest from around the country in the finals.

"I've been at the bottom and worked for nothing for a long time, so it's so nice to now feel like I'm getting somewhere," she said.

"It's just given us all a really big boost at the salon. All your customers have a vote so no-one was allowed to leave the salon over the past month without voting! We're all absolutely thrilled to win this award, and just really excited about the future.

"I want to expand the business and I've got loads of different ideas, such as running courses here."

Lisa says the coronavirus pandemic proved a huge challenge for her business.

"I don't give up easy at all. I really am stubborn. I put my whole life into it so it wasn't something I was going to give up easily but you were thinking 'what's round the corner, what's going to happen', it was the uncertainty," she said.

"And then opening back up, getting all the health and safety right. I said to my mum about a year ago 'I'm tired, I'm just going to give it one last blast'. I don't know how we've turned it round but we have.

"I put my money into it and we got shut down. It just seemed to be one thing after another. We couldn't work during lockdown, but the grants saved us, which we were so grateful for."

Lisa also found out this year she has a rare spinal condition - Bertolotti's syndrome - that can leave her unable to walk properly.

"On your spine you have little nodules that come out called transverse processes, and mine is really big and attached to my hip, so it causes chronic pain," said the mother-of-three.

"So I do struggle with work but I wouldn't want to do anything else. It would kill me not to be there and have the salon. My customers can snap me out of that bad place and when I get there they make me feel better.

"I always turn negatives into positives, and try to use negative energy and turn it into something positive. If someone says you can't do something, go and prove them wrong."

Lisa added: "The biggest thank you is for my mum and dad, they believe in me when I don't believe in myself.

"My mum and dad are so supportive, helping with the shop, cleaning it or painting it. My staff and my customers have been amazing. I've had these clients for years and they're like my friends.

"We have beauty therapists, two fantastic make-up artists and the rest of us are hairdressers. We work so well as a team, we're all different and work in different ways, but we all complement each other really well.

"All the girls would work until one in the morning during the pandemic to fit everyone in. We all work really hard and are all there for each other."