Old London Road Tattoo - One Year Anniversary

Old London Road Tattoo studio opened in August 2007, and Skin Deep was invited to visit Kingston and celebrate their first birthday in style. The actual party took place in the venue next door at The Fighting Cocks, both of which are owned by the heavily tattooed bike fanatic, Jamie O’Grady.

To ensure the party went with a swing, the event was compèred by three tattooed beauties from the Fuel Girls. Sahara, Naomi and Charlotte are three girls who certainly know how start a party…they began with a subtle striptease act which rapidly gave way to fire breathing and a dramatic performance mixing erotica with skilful acrobatics, all whilst demonstrating further mastery of their still-lit fire torches. 

The shop has a reputation for good customer service and focusing on producing fine artwork, and the party they put on was no exception to this rule. We witnessed the fine Baron and Missy’s Misadventures take us on a brief visit to vaudeville with broken glass, giant cleavers and more fire. In a time when so many acts claim to pay tribute to their sideshow roots, it’s refreshing to see an act acknowledge their roots then add a little extra - an act worth seeing again for sure. 

A very capable David TG, who kept the various rockers, punks, drag-racing fans and even genuine undertakers happily dancing until they could hardly stand, supplied the soundtrack to the evening, along with live music provided by the Emily Breeze Band.

Before the ‘Jäger’ was flowing too freely, Jamie and Ren were presented with a birthday cake to thank them for all the hard work they have put into preparing the studio. Katt (an Australian artist who has been tattooing for over six years) and Lindsey Lawson (A fine-art graduate whose main interests are traditional and Japanese designs) took time out from working on new designs to come down to the party. The resident modification artist, Chris, did the same. As a team, they are working to raise the bar in every area they participate in; Chris is keen to do his bit to raise the standards of UK modifications up to the standards in the States. Katt has taken from her experiences in Australia and aims to bring her bold and bright style to the skin of us Brits - her background in punk and Goth, which translates well into horror and old skool realism, inspires much of her work. It is fair to say that tonight they didn’t let themselves down in any way and extended their customary friendly hand to everyone there. Nursing a hangover the next morning, I can only say here’s a raised glass to their second anniversary!

Old London Road Tattoos

Tel: 020 8549 4705