Stewart Francis and Peter Hedges have been together for ten years.

They opened their hairdressing salon, Slice, seven years ago and became civil partners five years ago.THE only time Stewart Francis and Peter Hedges spend away from each other is when Peter goes to the gym.

Having been inseparable for three years, they weren’t nervous that they would be at each other’s throats when they went into business together, opening Slice hairdressing salon in Portswood, Southampton.

When they met in a Southampton bar, both were hairdressers, but Stuart was also studying for a PhD at the University of Southampton.

It took a couple of years for him to finish his studies and it was then that the pair decided to go into business together.

“I couldn’t believe how much money I’d made for the hairdressers I was working at for not a lot in wages,” says Peter, 38.

“Stuart was working for himself, renting a chair at a salon. We said: ‘why don’t we do it on our own?’. Because we are both hairdressers it was the only way we were going to make any money.”

“We both said early on that we thought this relationship was ‘the one’,” says Stuart, 48.

“We didn’t give any thought as to whether it was a good idea to go into business together because we were a couple. It just seemed like a good idea.”

Sometimes Stuart and Peter chat during the day but on busy days they discuss work in the car on the way home.

“Sometimes it’s quite difficult to separate business and the relationship,” says Peter.

“But in ten years we’ve only had three serious rows, and never about business.”

The couple, who live in Bitterne, agree that having a business together has been an even stronger commitment.

“You do have so much to lose,” says Stuart.

“If the relationship ended, it’s not like you could split up and still have your job. That’s definitely made us work harder at the relationship.”

They agree that having all their money coming from one source has its potential stresses.

“If it’s quiet in the salon, we’re both losing money. Neither of us has a regular fixed income,” says Stuart.

“But then we haven’t got the threat of redundancy and all the other things we hear our clients talk about.”

Luckily, the couple don’t find it difficult to be in each other’s company constantly.

“We do everything together,” says Peter.

“In ten years we’ve been out separately twice. The only time we’re apart is when I go to the gym.”

Peter’s top tips for surviving as a couple running a business together are: “Honesty, have the same goal and work together.

“And be in love.”

  • Slice is at 110 Portswood Road, Southampton, 023 8067 7713. The salon is offering 15 per cent off, valid once per customer, for Echo readers who mention this article until November 2013.

Liz and Richard Beverley have been together for 12 years and married in 2003.

They have two children and both work at Ordnance Survey in Nursling. LIZ met Richard in 1998 when she was doing a temp job at Ordnance Survey. They became friends and started dating in 1999, shortly before she started working with the company.

Neither of them had any concerns about dating someone from the same workplace.

“It’s quite a large organisation,” says Richard, 47, a project manager.

“There are more than 1,000 people on site so you can go a day without seeing each other.”

Liz adds that there are lots of couples at the company, so it didn’t seem strange – in fact both her parents worked at Ordnance Survey before they retired, and her father was on the same team as Richard.

“It did change my relationship with her father a bit but I’ve always got on well with him so it was an easy transition. It wasn’t a stranger dating his daughter – in fact he knew me before Liz did.”

For the couple, who now have two children, working for the same company has huge benefits.

“We can car share or if we have to come in separately we can swap the car seat over,” says Liz.

“Ordnance Survey is brilliant when it comes to being family flexible and the fact that the nursery is on site is fantastic, so travel is really easy.”

“It’s easier because if there’s an issue during the day you can walk round the corner and talk to the other person,” says Richard.

That said, the couple don’t generally seek each other out at work.

“Very occasionally we have lunch together, says Liz, “But because I work part time my hours are very condensed so I am quite full on at work.”

“We’re good at maintaining the balance between work and personal life,” says Richard.

“It’s all about that and I think it’s easier for us to do that here than it would be elsewhere. That’s the bottom line for us, really.”

Max and Aimee Greenwood have been married since June. He opened his pub, The Rockstone, last December and they have been running it together since March.

They have 14 members of staff. IN 18 months Aimee Greenwood’s life has changed almost beyond recognition. The 32- year-old has gone from being single, working in recruitment and living in a flat with her dog Frankie, to married, a landlady and living over a pub with her new husband.

The couple met through mutual friends in April 2011and started dating in October of that year. Max proposed on New Year’s Eve 2011.

Aimee moved into the pub at the end of January 2012 and started working there in March. They married in Southampton in June, and held the reception in their pub, The Rockstone, in Bevois Valley, Southampton.

“It was pretty serious, pretty quickly. We got it all out of the way within a year,” says 30-yearold Max who adds that he never had any concerns about things moving so quickly and going into business together.

Aimee admits that she was a bit apprehensive.

“I was worried that it would be the end of my career, but I was going to marry Max and be with him for the rest of my life and this was going to be my home. If the business wasn’t successful I’d lose my home and Max would lose his dream, so I thought that was a good enough reason to put my career on hold and support him.”

The pair says that none of their friends or family ever suggested it might not be a good idea to marry and go into business together so quickly and add that it hasn’t caused any problems.

“I think Max found it quite a relief because I’m very straightforward and I’m good at managing people,” says Aimee.

“I like the social aspect of being in the pub.

We’ve got lively customers and it’s a nice place to be. Max doesn’t worry so much when he does get stressed out about work and wants to talk to me about it, because he knows I understand. I think it’s halved his worries because when there’s a long list of things that need doing we can just split it in half.”

Although the couple spends a huge amount of time working in the same pub that doesn’t mean they are together all day long.

Max runs the kitchen and Aimee the bar, and sometimes they barely speak at work.

They say that the only stressful aspect of their arrangement is that living over the pub they don’t get much privacy.

“The office is upstairs too and there isn’t really any dividing boundary between work and private space,” says Max.

“Sometimes the staff come into our bedroom and put our post on our desk when we’re still in bed!”

In the long term they plan on continuing to work together but would like to hand over the day-to-day running of the pub to someone else and move into their own home.

“The extra commitment of running the business together was never an issue for me,”

says Aimee.

“I wouldn’t have married Max if it wasn’t so right. I’ve never been in a situation before in my life when I’ve been so convinced that I was doing the right thing.”

  • The Rockstone is at 63 Onslow Road, Southampton.