Maldon Nub News aims to be supportive to EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and wants life to get back to normal.

We will be profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN MALDON in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for your full return to business as usual.

This week we talk to Harry and Rhys Green, owners of Profound in Edward's Walk, Maldon. During an in-depth Q and A session the brothers reveal why they set up business in Maldon as well as what they love about the town's community and their gratitude for its support during the current crisis.

WHEN you ask brothers Harry and Rhys Green how much their salon business means to them, there's really no room for doubt.

"It means a lot," they say in unison before Harry, 29, adds: "Our parents both really struggled, so what we have achieved here means so much."

The brothers grew up in a council house in Dagenham, East London – an area incredibly different from Maldon, where they have now owned a successful barbering business for some years. And they have made the district their home. Rhys, 32, lives in Wickham Bishops and Harry has just bought his first house in Southminster.

Harry entered business first when he established Harry Green's barbers at the top section of the High Street. At that time, Rhys was not in the same trade.

Rhys says: "I had done a few different jobs and then one day, Harry asked me to join him in the shop and try my hand at barbering."

It wasn't long before the older brother started to share his brother's success. Both are award-winning barbers.

Rhys was awarded a hall of fame award by the British Barbers Association in 2017 and Harry was made a member of the Men's Hair Federation artistic team. The pair have travelled Europe, working on stage at some of Europe's biggest hair shows and have also travelled around the UK to train other barbers.

Speaking to them in their super-clean, spacious and trendy salon – with all its pandemic safety measures in place - something becomes clear very quickly. These brothers are close and share both a bond and a determination to make this carry on working, despite Covid-19.

"It's been tough," Rhys says, "There are some customers we just haven't seen again since the pandemic, though we have been pleased in the last week to see more of the familiar faces back here.

"But we know we're going to get through this."

Now the brothers, who already have a few hair products in their own branded range, are working on producing more – branching out into skin care and offering advice for individual customers, too.

They tell me about the history of their business – how when the lease at the shop where Harry Green's was established was suddenly up after three years, they found another premises in Bright's Path. Yet it was a first floor space and Harry and Rhys knew they wanted to be more visible than that.

So it was at that at Maldon's famous Christmas Market nearly two years ago they wandered past the empty shop in Edward's Walk where they now have their rebranded men's salon, Profound – though the pair are quick to point out that they also have some female customers.

"We're here to help everyone with their style," Harry says.

And the pair are full of praise for the Maldon community and the town that's become so central to their world.

"It was almost by accident that we ended up in Maldon," Harry says, explaining, "It was really just where an opportunity for a shop first came up, but once we here, it was where we decided to stay. It's a great community and a great High Street and the best place to be."