Our Space
Barber Below is fully integrated into RCNQ, our salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
It wasn’t always this way. Barber Below originally lived beneath the salon as its own underground space, but in 2022 we brought the two together.
It was a deliberate move.
We wanted to remove the physical divide between the barbershop and the salon — creating one space where people could move between services, styles and teams without feeling like they were crossing from one world into another.
The Anti-Barbershop
Barber Below was built as an alternative to traditional barber culture.
Barbershops have historically been male-centred spaces, often shaped by narrow ideas of masculinity — from the language used and the services offered to assumptions about who should be sitting in the chair.
That never made much sense to us.
Haircuts aren’t inherently masculine or feminine, and the person cutting your hair shouldn’t need to know your gender before they know what you want your hair to look like.
When Barber Below became fully integrated with RCNQ in 2022, it pushed that idea even further. Rather than separating “barbering” from “salon hair”, we created one shared space where those boundaries could disappear completely.
No gendered sides. No assumptions about who belongs where. No expectation that you fit into one part of the industry or the other.
That’s what we mean when we call ourselves the anti-barbers.
Queer & Disabled Owned
RCNQ and Barber Below are queer and disabled-owned.
Being AuDHD-led influences the way we think about the space too — from questioning the traditional rules around salons and barbershops to thinking more carefully about how different people experience an appointment.
We don’t pretend one environment will work perfectly for everyone. What matters to us is being willing to listen, adapt and keep making the space better.
We want RCNQ and Barber Below to feel like somewhere you can show up as yourself, explore what you want from your hair and work with a team that sees individuality as something to celebrate rather than something to fit into a box.
A Melting Pot of Creativity
Hair doesn’t need to be divided into barbering and hairdressing — and people definitely don’t.
Bringing RCNQ and Barber Below together allowed us to create a space where different skills, influences and ideas constantly overlap.
Razor cutting sits alongside fades. Creative colour alongside clipper work. Long hair, short hair and everything somewhere in between.
It also means our teams learn from each other, clients can explore different services more easily, and nobody has to decide whether they belong in a “salon” or a “barbershop” before they walk through the door.
The result is a space that feels much more like us: colourful, collaborative and constantly evolving.
Designed to Feel Different
For some clients, moving between a traditional barbershop and salon can feel like a much bigger step than simply changing where you get your hair cut.
We wanted to take that barrier away.
Having Barber Below and RCNQ together means clients can explore their hair at their own pace — whether that means trying a different service, growing their hair, changing their presentation or simply choosing the person whose work feels right for them.
For clients who are transitioning or exploring their gender expression, that freedom can be particularly important. You don’t have to move between gendered spaces as your hair, identity or presentation changes.
There isn’t a barber side and a salon side.
It’s just our space.
Come and Find Us
16 Whittle Street
Manchester’s Northern Quarter
M4 1LT
Barber Below and RCNQ share the same space, so you’ll find both teams under one roof.