WHEN Middlesbrough born explorer James Cook set sail for Tahiti in 1769, nobody could have imagined it would spark a trend for tattoos that would still be going strong today.

But it was Cook and his crew who discovered the art and became the first recorded European sailors to have tattoos, setting the trend for the tattooed sailor. With the industry now worth £80m, Mink Tattoo Coffee Bar, in Middlesbrough, has launched an exhibition called TATAOW!, featuring extracts from the journals of the crew on their voyage to Tahiti and how they adopted the art themselves.

“It was originally started by sailors who wanted a tattoo from each port,” says Mink’s owner, Patrick Wilson. “We still get crews coming in today in groups of six or seven wanting a tattoo from Middlesbrough because it’s their port of call.”

“James Cook cemented tattoos back into English culture and because Middlesbrough is his birthplace it’s only right to celebrate it here.”

Tattooing is still going strong in Middlesbrough, which has at least 18 shops – believed to be more than anywhere in the North-East.

These days almost everyone is sporting some form of body art, from David Beckham to Angelina Jolie and Fearne Cotton. Olympic diver Tom Daley celebrated his success this summer by getting a tattoo of the Olympic rings on his arm. Even Lady Steel, the wife of former Lib Dem leader David Steel, got in on the act, getting a tattoo of a pink jaguar for her 70th birthday, announcing afterwards it was “very liberating”.

One fifth of Britons are now inked, according to a survey, with 1.5 million tattoos drawn each year.

Patrick, who has run tattoo shops in Middlesbrough for 18 years and owns the Festival Shop as well as Mink, employs six artists who work six days a week as well as evenings to keep up with demand.

HE has seen a huge upsurge, particularly from women, with 60 per cent of customers now female, compared to 30 per cent five years ago.

“It’s a fashion thing. It’s quite trendy and artistic,” he says. “You go somewhere like Cambridge – there’s not many people tattooed at all and the type of tattoos they have will be a few little delicate flowers. Whereas you come up North, people have big black tribal tattoos and big swirls like Robbie Williams has on his arms.

There’s something in the tribalness of it still.”

Patrick, who sports four, including a dragon on both arms, says the choice is endless. People can even get ultra violet tattoos that glow under UV light.

“People come in and say, I would like some writing down my arm. I say, ‘Okay, what would you like,’ and they say, ‘I don’t know’. The amount of times that happens, it’s ridiculous.

I say, ‘Go home, have a look on the internet and have a think about what you want because it is going to be on there forever’.”

While he’ll do most designs, he does advise against some, such as the one Cheryl Cole has at the base of her little finger. “Because of the way it’s positioned it’ll come off in a year so we’d rather not do it,” he says.

“Obviously, we’re not allowed to tattoo anyone who’s been drinking. If they want something on their neck and face, we’ll probably say, you’re only young, I don’t think you’ve thought about it enough.”Art works: top, a wildlife realism theme on the arm of tattooist Lauren Stephens. Above, the tattoo exhibition The most painful place, according to Patrick, is around the belly button, but he can only recall three customers who have walked out half way through. “People do faint sometimes,” he says. “If it’s the middle of the afternoon, I’ll say go and have a bar of chocolate or can of Coke to get your blood sugar levels up.”

Youth worker Ben Shorttle, 20, is at Mink waiting to have his leg done. He’s got 12 piercings and seven tattoos, including his entire chest, an arm and half of one leg. He had his first one at 17.

‘Istudied fine art for five years and dug deep into researching tribes and since then I’ve been building up,” he says. “I’ve got plans for a full sleeve right leg, full of the birds of Britain – no bare skin and a full-sleeve right arm. I’m building up my left leg with traditional pieces and also planning on getting my fingers, thumbs, toes, armpit and back of knees done. I thought about the bottom of my foot, but thought it would be pure agony.”

His biggest tattoo is a swallow sweeping across his chest, which goes from the bottom of his ribcage around his nipples and over his shoulders, featuring the words “mother” and “father” and various roses and rosebuds.

As well as tattoos, he’s got nasal piercings, an 8mm bar through his septum and a 40mm stretch on his ear. “Stretching my septum was quite intense.

That felt quite tight and hurt for a good few weeks,” he says. “When people see how much my nose is stretched and see my tattoos, they can’t believe I’m a youth worker, but people look at it more as an art now rather than vandalism of the body.”

Patrick says improvements to the inks and new techniques mean it is nothing like the old days when the colours used to spread, making tattoos look fuzzy with age.

Ben also has no qualms about what he’ll look like when he reaches retirement, pointing out that so many people have them now, it is not going to seem so strange. “A bit of pain for a few hours for something so beautiful to last the rest of your life is worth it,” he says.

  • Mink Tattoo Coffee Bar, 25, Corporation Road, Middlesbrough