Flashday
A small tattoo shop at night, its red neon sign reflected in a wet car park.

Pick one off the wall and wear it home the same day

Two chairs, four colours and three hundred designs painted on sheets around the shop. Bold lines that will still read as what they are when you are eighty. We do traditional work and nothing else, and we are happy to send you to someone who does the rest.

See the next flash days
Black and white photograph of a tattoo artist in a cap bent over a client's arm, working.

Flash days

No bookings. Doors at eleven, names on the board, first come first tattooed.

Thu 3 Oct

Swallows, daggers and roses

£60 flat, palm-sized

Thu 10 Oct

Friday the 13th sheet, early

£13 for the tiny ones

Thu 17 Oct

Ships, anchors and lighthouses

£60 flat, palm-sized

Thu 24 Oct

Guest artist, their own wall

Prices on the day

Three sizes, three prices

A small, finely shaded portrait tattoo on the inside of a forearm.

Small

Up to the size of a matchbox. Most flash-day pieces.

£60–90

A forearm covered in traditional tattoos, a skull and a bottle among them.

Palm

About the size of your palm, off the wall. Two hours or so.

£120–180

A bold black symbol tattoo with runes and a crescent on the back of a calf.

Your own design

We draw it in the traditional style. A consultation first, deposit £50.

£110 an hour

A gloved hand holding a tattoo machine over a large blackwork design on a leg. A tattooed hand drawing a design in pen on a sheet of paper on a workbench.

Healing, day by day

Day one

Leave the wrap

Keep the film on for as long as we told you, usually three to five days. Don't peek under it.

Days four to seven

Wash, pat, thin

Lukewarm water, clean hands, pat dry with kitchen roll. A very thin layer of plain cream, twice a day.

Week two

It will itch

It will flake like sunburn. Do not pick, do not scratch, slap it gently if you must.

Month one

Sun and water

No swimming, no sunbeds, no sun on it without cover. Then high-factor sun cream for life.

A black-gloved hand gripping a wrapped tattoo machine. A gloved hand resting on skin covered in a purple stencil outline, ready to be tattooed.

Said at the counter

"Walked in for a swallow at eleven, walked out with one at one. Four years on it still looks painted on."

Dev, flash day regular

"They talked me out of the tiny script on my finger and into something that would actually last. Correctly."

Hannah, first tattoo

"The only shop I know that tells you how long the healing takes before it tells you the price."

Olu, three pieces so far

Before you come

Age
Eighteen and over, with photo ID, no exceptions and no parental consent.
Eat first
A proper meal in the three hours before. No alcohol the night before; it makes you bleed more.
What we won't do
Hands, necks or faces as a first tattoo. Tiny fine script. Anything copied from another artist's work.
Deposits
Only for custom work: £50, taken off the final price, kept if you miss the appointment without a day's notice.