TAUNTON's Beaux Beauty Salon has relocated to a larger space in The Crescent, filling a townhouse that has been empty for 20 years.

The business, founded by Lauren Sherring, 39, has been running in Taunton for ten years, and was previously located on the high street.

Now the salon is expanding into its new Taunton home, a three-storey grade-II listed townhouse, located at 20, The Crescent, that is owned by Somerset Freemasons.

Beaux Health and Wellbeing offers an array of beauty treatments, wellness treatments, and counselling  — including lashes, brows, manicures, pedicures, waxing, threading, massage, facials, aesthetics, lymphatic drainage, and even "mini self-care treatments" for children and teens.

Owner Lauren Sherring, 39, started the business ten years ago after spotting the need for an accessible "health, wellness, and counselling" space in Taunton. Lauren previously ran a successful property lettings business in Taunton.

Lauren told the Gazette: "I used to be in property, I was working in the high street and had my own lettings company. I did really love it, but I hated how stressful and competitive the corporate world was.

"I shared the office with quite a lot of guys who were in finance or doing property or a similar thing, and sadly one of them took their own life.

"That really made me look at where he could have gone and what's available, I knew he wouldn't have gone to somewhere like Mind [mental health charity] and probably wouldn't go to the doctor, I think it is harder for guys to talk about things, so I thought if we offer [counselling] in a place where it is inclusive and it doesn't feel like a shameful thing.

"Having been to counselling myself, it can feel quite tucked away or clinical and it feels uncomfortable. I remember sitting thinking it's just like a doctor's and I want to go home, quite often it's very formal."

Beaux offers traditional counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as well as life coaching and a science-based Human Givens practitioner.

On the first floor of Beaux's new location is the nail room and a coffee bar serving matcha and green juice "so people can pop in and chill out for a bit".

The salon's lymphatic drainage is "really popular", along with its "results-driven" facials, including teen facials aimed to help those struggling with hormonal skin. It also offers a Mole Screening service, run by a dermatologist.

There are four treatment rooms in the new location, with ten staff currently. Lauren hopes that more men in beauty and wellness apply for job roles in the future, as the salon's lash tech Harry "completes the team".

Lauren added: "We want Beaux to feel really inclusive, so people feel comfortable coming in. It can be quite daunting walking into a salon and people can feel a bit judged or worried about it, but we have clients from every aspect of life."