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Camden New Journal - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 16 August 2007

Andreas Lysandrou in his Chalk Farm barber shop

Barber shop closes after 30 years as owner aims to make the cut in acting

WHEN Andreas Lysandrou opened his barber shop in Chalk Farm more than 30 years ago, he called it ‘Andy’s of Hampstead’ because the area was so ‘scary’.
Now the once run-down Chalk Farm Road could hardly be seen as “isolated”, as he said it once was, and the stretch of road, running from Chalk Farm Tube to Camden Bridge, boasts some of the area’s hippest bars and includes one of the most prestigious venues in Camden – the Roundhouse.
But one thing hasn’t changed since 1970 – Mr Lysandrou’s shop, which has the same formica sign and fixtures inside that he put up when he opened.
Mr Lysandrou, a Greek Cypriot, arrived in London at the age of 17 after an uprising against Britain in his home country forced him to look for work elsewhere.
After working in a barber’s shop in Camden Town from 1957 to 1965, he started his first shop in Ferdinand Street later that year before moving to his current location.
He said: “It was isolated. You were scared to come out because all the shops were closed.”
He said the opening of the Roundhouse in the late 60s changed everything, before the market really put Camden on the map.
Mr Lysandrou, 70, who lives with his wife Barbara in Prince of Wales Road in Kentish Town, has appeared in The Performance with Mick Jagger.
He now plans to spend more time on his acting career, and has always been involved with Theatro Technis in Mornington Crescent. “I’ve got all the certificates up on my wall,” he said of his acting and directing qualifications. “It’s time to take them down and use them.”

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