Owners of a new tattoo studio earmarked for a national TV show are warning people about the dangers of getting inked at home.

Alex Farson, 46, and Paul Canham, 36, have 30 years’ experience in tattooing between them and have just launched a new parlour in Gravesend High Street – Two Tides.

The pair had been working together for two years at another studio in the town but broke off to form their own business, and in their years have found that tattoo cover-ups form a huge part of the daily work load.

Alex said: “There is a big issue with people doing tattoos from home.

“We call it scratching. The people who do it aren’t legitimate artists, they buy their equipment cheap online because you’ve got to have a licence to buy a proper tattoo machine.

“Everything is cheaply made in China, and hygiene is a problem, with things unlikely to be sterilised properly.”

Paul added: “Obviously people don’t want to pay out a lot, and end up getting them done on the cheap rather than waiting and saving. Then they end up paying out for a proper one anyway to cover it. You just think ‘you should have come here in the first place’.

“It’s bad for the industry, it makes tattoos in general look bad. If people see someone walking down the road with a terrible tattoo, they might assume they got it done locally.”

The pair have been approached by Channel 5 to take part in a show like E4s Tattoo Fixers, which would be filmed in their business. They are in the process of arranging a date for the crews to visit this autumn.

Off the success of the show, national newspapers ran stories earlier this year on the rise of scratchers, or ‘stick-and-poke’ tattoos, which were once reserved for jailbirds but are becoming more popular with people generally.

But Paul and Alex have complete faith in each other’s superior skills and even tattoo each other. Business is going well for them.

Paul said: “There’s a big market for tattoos, especially in Gravesend. A lot of people coming in are repeat customers.

“People tend to stay loyal to an artist they trust to do a good job.

“We do get a few walk-ins as well – we do a lot based on reputation. We have people come over from London and we’ve had people fly over from other countries where their family and friends have been tattooed by us.”

Alex added: “We’ve got some funny stories from over the years, some real characters.

“We had one guy come in and when we asked what he wanted he just bent over in front of us and pulled his trousers down.

“No two days are the same.”

Tattoos are for over 18s only and the shop has a ‘think 25’ policy.

The average tattoo, about palm-sized costs in the region of £75, but it can vary hugely depending on the detail and cost more for larger pieces.