‘Hundreds upon hundreds’: Bees invade legendary barber’s home

He’s been cutting the hair of people and occasionally animals for the past 70 years, but when this well-known barber had his house invaded by bees, he didn’t think to offer them a ‘buzz’ cut.

Considered a legend of his trade, Lisle Thomas is certainly no stranger to giving humans and animals a shave in his barber chair.

The well-known barber who hung up his scissors and retired from the trade in 2007, started as an apprentice at the prime age of 13 and went on to cut the hair of many customers in his own Australian Arcade shop.

Local barber Lisle Thomas is ready to give any runaway bees a quick short back and sides as bee keeper Chris Burgess removes a hive of bees from the roof and wall of Lisle's house. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Some Toowoomba residents will even recall the moment the barber sat a sheep in his chair and gave it a shave in the woolshed of the Highfields Pioneer Village once.

But when the 84-year-old had his house invaded by bees recently, it never crossed his mind to offer the insects a buzz cut.

The former barber said while he couldn’t put a number on how many bees had made a home for themselves on his property, he estimated there were “hundreds upon hundreds”.

Brad Mengel has his beard trimmed by Lisle Thomas, at the Lisle Thomas Barber Shop in the Australian Arcade in 1999. Picture: Cindy Laine / The Chronicle

“I saw all these things that looked like flies hanging off the wall on the outside of my house and underneath the roof, but then I heard a buzzing noise and realised they were bees,” he said.

“There were so many I could barely see the backyard – I thought I’d been invaded by crickets.”

Mr Thomas gave Toowoomba beekeeper Chris Burgess a “buzz” and he promptly removed the bees using a bee removal vacuum and relocated them to his home-based hive.

Bee keeper Chris Burgess removes a hive of bees from the roof and wall of a house owned by Lisle Thomas. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Despite living at his Harristown home for almost six decades, it’s the first encounter Mr Thomas has had with bees and has turned into a pricey one too.

“They had to take the whole roof off so I think it’ll cost me, but the plumber hasn’t given me the bill yet,” he said.