The First Barber Club
Twenty years on one strip of Centre Rd. Bentleigh is where The Barber Club started, and it is still where the standard is set.
The Barber Club started here, in a single shopfront on Centre Rd, in 2006. One room and one brief: classically trained barbers, a chair that is yours for the whole appointment, and a finish that still holds four weeks later. Twenty years on, that is still the whole of it.
Five more clubs followed — Yarraville, Port Melbourne, Richmond, Ringwood, and one on the Gold Coast — and every one of them was built out of what worked in this room. Bentleigh isn't the original because it is the biggest. It is the original because it was first, and because the standard here is the one the others were measured against.
Centre Rd is a village strip wrapped around a train station, and the shop has been part of it for two decades. The same families walk the same footpaths they always did, and we know their fades, their wedding cuts and their boys' first haircuts. Five barbers work this floor, led by founder Alex Tabakman.
- 2006 Opened On Centre Rd
- 20 Years On One Street
- 6 Barbers On This Floor
- 2026 AMBA Business Of The Year
Award Winning Barbers
In April 2026 the AMBA judges named The Barber Club Bentleigh Best Barber Business of the Year, and inducted our founder Alex Tabakman into the Hall of Fame. Same barbers, same standard, still on Centre Rd.
- 2026
Best Barber Business Of The Year
The Barber Club Bentleigh
- 2026
Hall Of Fame
Alex Tabakman, Founder
The Standard, Unchanged
Three things have not moved since 2006. Everything else about the shop has.
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Classically Trained
Scissor over comb, blade work, blended fades. The fundamentals learned properly first, and the modern finish on top of them. It is the difference between a barber who can cut what you ask for and one who can tell you what will actually suit you.
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The Hot Towel, Every Time
Not just on the shaves. Consultation, hot towel, neck shave and a styling finish are in the price of every service on the board, from a fifteen-minute buzz cut up.
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The Same Hands
Ask for your barber by name when you book and you get them. They keep notes on your last cut, so you never brief the same fade twice — and after a few visits you stop having to brief it at all.
Who's On The Floor
Five barbers on the Bentleigh floor, led by founder Alex Tabakman. Same hands every visit, and you can ask for your barber by name when you book.
- Connor
- Gess
- Harry
- Bosco
- Andre
Twenty Years, Same Street
Book a chair on Centre Rd, or call the shop and we'll find you a spot. Walk-ins are welcome Monday to Saturday.