It's beauty and the bar in Nuneaton

Resourceful Unique host Fiona Patterson had a hair-brained idea to attract more people into her pub ­ by opening a beauty salon on the second floor. Patterson felt the extra space in the 16th-century Royal Red Gate in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, could be put to better use, so she opened the salon about three weeks ago. Currently the business has two full-time hairdressers ­ and even a sunbed. Customers are allowed to take food and drink from the pub upstairs while they wait, and there is a special brunch menu for salon customers. "It's ideal for men who tend to pop into hairdressers and wait to be fitted in. This way they can sit in the bar and have a drink until it's their turn," said Patterson. Pub spokesperson Gemma Brining said they had been "very busy" over the last few weeks. "We've had quite a lot of regulars from the pub downstairs ­ female as well as male," she said. "Since we put a sign up outside we get people in from local villages, as well as those passing by from the main road.