Happiness is living by the water

Apr 5 2007 by Debbie Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Debbie Johnson meets a young Irishman who’s made Liverpool his home

RIAIN EGAN is just settling in to his new bachelor pad in Liverpool’s docklands. From sharing with his student sister, Niamh, he now has the run of his own super-stylish two-bedroomed home on South Ferry Quay, where he can watch the world go by on the river, or stroll into town to enjoy the delights of the city centre.

For the 26-year-old, living by the water is ideal – and a reminder of his home in Newry, in Northern Ireland.

He says: “You can sit in the dining area and look out at the water and it is so soothing and calming – you can feel any worries slipping away.”

Not that Riain seems to have many worries at the moment.

He only moved to Liverpool six months ago, and for the last five weeks has been working as a senior stylist at the uber-cool city hair salon Zoo, in Hackins Hey.

But not so long ago, in a previous life, he was an engineer working on building sites.

He says: “I always wanted to be a hairdresser, but where I was growing up there was stigma attached to it, so I went into a proper bloke’s job!

“As I got older and matured I realised I should do what would make me happy, so I retrained and I’ve never looked back.

“But I’m still quite ungroomed for a hairdresser.”