0
People are able to finally go back under the addictive inking needle as lockdown has finally been lifted across the UK.
Bustling with great tattoo artists, Dr Feelgood, based on Bold St, is back open and providing you with your inking fix.
After months of being closed, shop manager Apryl Harrison said it feels ‘surreal’ to be open and ‘too good to be true’ after being shut since Christmas.
She said: “I would say it feels surreal. Almost slightly too good to be true.
“The itch and drive to be creative hasn’t ever gone away despite the nine or ten months of not being allowed to do it.
“We are definitely concerned about being put into lockdown again though, so we are just going to make the most of being able to open now and try and work as much as we can in that time, making the most of it.”
Apryl also touched on the apprehension of returning to work across all industries and the overwhelming response the studio received.
She added: “On one hand, we were nervous to come back, as everyone was.
“However, as a whole, we were excited and couldn’t have predicted the incredible response we had from clients when we announced that we were opening”
“We have had countless messages from bookings to words of encouragement. We are busier than we expected and it has for sure exceeded our expectations.”
The reality of having to close frequently during the pandemic was much harder than anyone would think. Apryl added: “A lot of work goes into booking, designing, and speaking to our clients.
“To go through all those processes initially and to have already done all the work that needs doing prior to an appointment made it creatively gutting when we could not follow through with them at the last moment.”
“It consisted of a huge amount of letting people down several times. It was extremely frustrating, but I think by the last lockdown everyone was expecting it which made it slightly easier.”
Apryl further expressed the stress that being closed caused: “Having to cancel and re-book clients was potentially the most stressful part.
“We had months of previously booked appointments the first time, and after that, we were just playing catch up for what felt like forever.
“We hate to let people down and although it was happening to everyone we just felt awful to cancel people multiple times.
“The last lockdown was the worst in the sense that we came back on January 4th and I spent all day booking appointments for Christmas vouchers people had received to then get home that same night and have to cancel everyone because of the announcement.
“The whole thing was disheartening and from a business point of view, knowing we were indefinitely not making money all over again made it even worse as it was just after Christmas.”
To remain in business during the multiple lockdowns, Dr Feelgood remained active on social media. Apryl stated: “We tried to keep active on our social media pages as best as we could.
“Whether that was making sure we posted plenty of the tattoos we had done or made stories on Instagram that people could interact with to keep our pages active within the algorithms and also so that our clients knew we were still here and muddling through.
“We hosted a Q&A of all things tattooing via Instagram stories and just made sure to keep up with replying to clients’ messages from home.
“We didn’t want anyone feeling ignored just because we weren’t physically open.”
As the roadmap out of lockdown begins, Apryl remains hopeful yet realistic about the next few months. She added: If our first day is anything to go by then we are going to have a great summer.
“Although the possibility of yet another lockdown is very real, we can only work within the time we get given out of lockdowns and as we said previously, all we can do is make the most of it and hope it doesn’t get taken away again.”
Will you be going under the needle over the next few months? Let us know in the comments below.