In the depth of winter last year I saw five phone company engineers removing heavy, greasy black cables the thickness of my arm from under the pavement. They came back later to lay a replacement cable the size of a hosepipe. Then, during the spring the pavements around the entrance of Bounds Green tube was ripped up to allow for the installation of a new green "BT" cabinet. …

When I saw this photo of the Lucas Brothers Barber Shop taken in 1999 I was impressed by how little it’s changed in the past decade. I suspect little has changed since it was established in 1982. The premises retain the atmosphere of a barber’s from an earlier period with it's Formica sill and puke green basins.

The spacious shop is a…