IT WAS once a well-loved barbers before being transformed into one of Oxfordshire’s smallest homes – and now it is back on the market.

For 40 years the tiny East Oxford unit served the community as Dennis Pratley’s gents’ hairdressers - made up of one salon with just two chairs.

But the Hertford Street salon was transformed early last year into a swish single-room studio and was on the market for £125,000.

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Developers spent tens of thousands of pounds squeezing the entire 16sq m home into the one room and billed it as the ideal pad for a first-time buyer or someone working in Oxford.

The remarkable room was one of the cheapest homes in Oxford, at a time when the city was the UK’s least affordable.

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The tiny house when it was still a barbers.

Developers originally said ‘the best things come in small packages’ and the ‘futuristic’ studio was an inexpensive introduction to the Oxford property market.

It has since been called home by renters paying £850 rent a month for the central Oxford flat.

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Now, the boxy bijoux is back on sale but has had a further facelift since its days as a barbers.

Developers have worked even more magic and the combined bedroom, living room - complete with the sofa turning into a double bed - kitchen, and separate ‘wet room’ hidden by a secret door are no longer.

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Dennis Pratley pictured near his beloved barbershop.

It also previously had mobile charging points built into the bedside sockets and a ‘luxury’ electric blind to save space.

Now the team have created a larger one-bed flat in its place, including a combined kitchen/breakfast room and lounge with separate bedroom and shower room.

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The description online says: “Coming soon is an opportunity to purchase a newly refurbished apartment in the heart of East Oxford. The high specification includes a stylish integrated kitchen, sitting room, double bedroom and a shower room.”

The quirky one-bed is now on the market at £275,000 and has stretched the original 16sq m footprint to almost double at 29.9sq m.

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The old floor plan...

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...and the new, expanded property.

The new unit now works out at almost £8,600 per square metre.

It even has its own driveway – a precious commodity in central Oxford.

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A touching nod to the quirky home’s history also remains in honour of the hairdresser who made number 38b his home for four decades and who passed away in 2017, with ‘Dennis W Pratley’s Studio’ written above the doors.

The newly renovated addition to the housing market comes as Oxford continues its reign as the least affordable city for buying a house.

Oxford has an average house price of £460,184, 12.6 time average annual earnings in the city (£36,430), making Oxford the UK’s least affordable city according to a report by Lloyds Bank.

Enquire with Andrews estate agents on 01865 396500.