Arkwright’s corner shop is now a h-h-hairdresser’s

IT’S been a hairdressers for more than half a century - but is still better known as the setting for Ronnie Barker’s classic comedy “Open All Hours.”
Arkwright's corner shop is now a beauty salon. Picture: Ross Parry AgencyArkwright's corner shop is now a beauty salon. Picture: Ross Parry Agency
Arkwright's corner shop is now a beauty salon. Picture: Ross Parry Agency

And it was confirmed this week that the BBC will be returning to the glass-fronted corner shop in Doncaster next month to film a one-off Christmas special.

The Beautique salon in Lister Avenue, at which exterior shots of stuttering Arkwright’s cluttered store were filmed, is run by Lisa Taylor, 45.

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She said the BBC told her earlier this week they would be returning to film for three days in November.

The mother-of-two - who only opens the salon twice a week rather than all hours - said: “A man from the BBC came to the shop last Thursday and took me outside.

“He told me it was all a bit top secret as they hadn’t been given the go-ahead yet.

“He then rang me on Monday and said it’s going ahead.”

The business has been the Beautique hair salon since 1962 when Mrs Taylor’s mother, Helen Ibbotson, first opened it.

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Mrs Ibbotson, 82, said she thinks the shop was chosen because Open All Hours writer Roy Clarke’s father once had a corner shop himself - and Mr Clarke was also local to the area.

Dozens of photos taken during the filming of the original series during the 70s and 80s line the walls.

Mrs Ibbotson, who passed on her business to her daughter when she retired 15 years ago, recalled how the BBC first asked to use her the shop in the 1970s - and she thought it was a hoax.

She said: “The producer rang me and asked ‘could we borrow your shop?’ and I said ‘you’re joking aren’t you?’

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“He said he wasn’t, he came and met us at the shop and then the rest is history really.”

Retired foster mother Lucy Viney 69, lives nearby and says she remembers the original series filming “very well.”

She said: “Ronnie Barker and David Jason would mill about and talk to people.

“David Jason was very nice, Ronnie Barker was a bit more reserved.

“They would introduce themselves to the neighbours if they wanted anything, knock on the door and ask to use the loo.”

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