Tattoo artist plans new parlour in Musselburgh

An empty Musselburgh shop could be transformed into a purple tattoo parlour under plans lodged by an existing operator.

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Tattoo artist John Hamilton, who has Shorthope Street Tattoo studio in the town, wants to take over the former computer shop on North High Street and give it a makeover to create a new outlet for his inking business.

In an application for change of use, Mr Hamilton outlines plans to bring the shop, which has been empty for some time, back up to scratch with purple masonry paint and black and gold signage.

Proposed tattoo studio.

There would also be blackout windows with gold drawings of ships and fish on them.

The design for the shop front is described as having one way black out windows to protect the privacy of clients with none of the decoration work on the masonry itself.

The plans are for the empty shop at 88 North High Street in Musselburgh, on the other side of the River Esk from Mr Hamilton’s studio.

In his application to East Lothian Council he says he has applied for the change of use because “the building is currently unoccupied and has been for a few years. (It) would be nice to see an unoccupied building given life again.”

A design statement shows the name of the studio as Eighty Eight North.

It says: “The word tattoo was going to be hand painted on top of the purple masonry paint.

“This won’t be going ahead in this moment in time as it may cause more problems with the proposal.

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