El Kinze de Cuchilleros closes after 126 years: farewell to Madrid’s most iconic barbershop

El Kinze de Cuchilleros, Madrid's oldest barbershop, is closing after 126 years. The premises, next to Plaza Mayor, will close its doors on 31 December. The decision is not due to a lack of customers. Discover the history and reasons behind this farewell.

El Kinze de Cuchilleros, Madrid's longest-running barbershop, has announced its definitive closure after 126 years of history. Located next to Plaza Mayor, the emblematic premises will stop serving its customers next 31 December, according to the Sanchidrián family, its current owners since 1963.

In an emotional letter, the people responsible for the business explain that the decision to close is not due to economic problems or a lack of clientele, but to internal disagreements between the partners. They have therefore put the establishment up for sale, bringing to an end an era that began in 1900 with Eladio Gurumeta and that has witnessed generations of local residents and distinguished figures.

The barbershop, which in its early days was a meeting place for the neighbourhood's inhabitants, has seen writers such as Camilo José Cela, Arturo Pérez-Reverte and Juan Eslava Galán sit in its chairs, as well as renowned actors and musicians. From 1958, the premises passed through the hands of Guillermo Coello before reaching the Sanchidrián family, who maintained the tradition until today.

El Kinze de Cuchilleros has survived wars, crises and the 2020 pandemic, when it was the first establishment to reopen in Madrid after lockdown. Inside, historic tools of the trade and the famous Acha chairs, symbols of an era now coming to an end, were preserved.

For the owners, the closure means saying goodbye to a fundamental part of their lives and to a clientele they consider friends and neighbours. The barbershop bids farewell by thanking people for the trust and affection received over more than a century, recalling that human treatment was always its greatest pride.