Jacks Story

BE GROOMED BY A 3RD GENERATION LONDON TURKISH BARBER

We have all heard the legends of Jack The Ripper, the mysterious and elusive serial killer active in the largely impoverished areas around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. It seemed fitting for Master Barber and Founder, Halil Ismail, to pay homage to the oddity of Jack and form a brand around his successful Turkish barbering business.

Our store at No.4 Toynbee Street has become a landmark within Spitalfields not only for its great cuts and shave but also as a tourist attraction for many who take part in the ripper tour.

Jack is the grandson of the Ripper. Now he’s back in town (a new man so to speak) and his main priority is to keep all the gentlemen of London looking trim and proppa.

We all learnt our trade from a young age watching our Fathers and practicing on relatives. That’s right, they took the “cuts” so you don’t have to!

The master barbers you see in our shops today all follow the code of craftsmanship that Jack carved into his ethos.

THE STORY

Emerging from the mist of his murky heritage, Jack charmed and chopped his way to the throne at the table of London’s elite barbers. But this was not without great struggle. Jack is the grandson and the last remaining blood relation of the city’s most elusive and enduring character – Jack the Ripper, the infamously cold and calculated serial killer who haunted the east end of Victoria London and evaded any repercussions.

Our Jack never spoke much, it was said of him that he let his blade do the talking; that he made great symphonies with his scissors and poems with his perms. Jack is an artist and like all memorable artists, they leave legacy through their work and live eternally through it. The Master barbers you see in our shops today all follow the code of the craftsmanship that Jack carved into his ethos.

Digging into the family archives revealed some hair-raising truths about Jack. We now know that the Ripper was a freemason, a member of a powerful elite which ruled over England and shaped society how it saw fit.

The Ripper’s acts of murder were sacrificial rituals and he got away with it because Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline was a member of the same fraternity.

Our Jack decided that he wanted to steer his family’s tradition away from barbarism and towards barbership. Perhaps it was a feeling of remorse or a desire to repent for his grandfather’s brutality but the only thing Jack was passionate about executing was excellence. So, Jack the Clipper was formed in the mid-20th century as a brotherhood, an exclusive club for the top brass and the most pristine gentlemen of the Paris and beyond.

Freemasonry isn’t the kind of faction you can exit with ease, so we know that Jack frequented the organisation and would rendezvous regularly with his fellows. The blades he used to sharpen beards belonged to his grandfather, and are still in use today but reserved only for the lucky recipients of the Royal Ripper; such is the prestige and the history behind them.

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