AN army veteran, who completed two tours in Iraq, opened a tattoo studio in Malmesbury over the weekend.

Darren Mills, 47, welcomed visitors to Gentle Art Tattoo Studio on Saturday.

The studio opened above Bellissimo Hair, Nails and Beauty in the town centre.

Darren already owns a studio in Chippenham, where he lives, but competition is fierce in the town, so he wanted to tap into a new market in Malmesbury.

“I wanted to get away from everyone else,” he said. “Malmesbury is a nice little town, so when opportunity came up I thought, why not?

“The feedback I’ve got from people living around here has been very good. People are glad to have a tattoo studio here.

“It means people will come and see us rather than head miles out to get a tattoo.”

Darren says he offers a wide range of different types of tattoos but says his speciality is ‘cover-ups’, where he hides an old tattoo by drawing over it to create something new.

The technique has been made famous by the hit television show Tattoo Fixers, where people would get old tattoos with ex-partners names or bad designs covered-up.

For Darren, working as a tattoo artist is a dream fulfilled.

He originally trained in Birmingham, before joining the army.

After two tours of Iraq he left the forces and tried his hand at a number of other jobs before deciding to pursue a career as a tattoo artist.

After 11 years doing the job, he hasn’t looked back.

“When I’m tattooing, it takes me to a different place,” he said. “It calms me down.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.

“Since leaving the forces I had other jobs, but I got sick of them, so thought it was time to work for myself.”

Gentle Art Tattoo Studio will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-6pm.

To book a tattoo outside of those times contact Darren by calling 07793 070134.

For more information visit gentlearttattoostudio.co.uk