Your first tattoo

Nothing about the day is a surprise if somebody tells you what it is first. So, in order.

Bring photo ID. You have to be eighteen or over to be tattooed here and we check every time, regulars included. No ID, no appointment, and the deposit stays with the date rather than the day.

Eat properly beforehand. Not a coffee and a cigarette — an actual meal, within a couple of hours. Most of the people who go grey in the chair have skipped lunch. Do not drink the night before either; alcohol thins the blood and the work takes longer for it.

You see the drawing before anything else happens. Then a stencil goes on and you look at it in the mirror, standing up, moving the limb around. That is the moment to say it sits too high, or too far round. Moving a stencil takes two minutes. Moving a tattoo takes a laser.

Wear something that gets out of the way of the placement and does not mind a smudge of ink. Headphones are welcome. So is a friend, as long as they are happy to sit in the front room.

Two things we turn down. We do not tattoo hands, necks or faces on a first visit, whatever you have read — those spots age badly and they narrow your options for the rest of your life. And we do not copy another artist's work. Bring it as a reference by all means and we will draw you something of our own.