Tattoo shops in Durham
Durham, County Durham has 15 tattoo shops on the map. All 15 are mapped as tattoo studios proper, and each one is worth a portfolio browse before you commit — style varies more between shops than towns. Walk-ins are worth asking about, but the good custom work everywhere books weeks out.
This guide covers every tattoo shop we could verify in and around Durham (within about 25 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Buzzin Guns and Dare U, plus The Ink Cell. If a studio's missing from Durham's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet — the scene is bigger than any single dataset.
The Durham tattoo lineup
15 in Durham, plus 48 more around Durham below:
Buzzin Guns
Tattoo studio0.3 km from Durham
Buzzin Guns is Tattoo studio on 6 Neville Street, Durham. Buzzin Guns also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
6 Neville Street, Durham, DH1 4EY
Dare U
Tattoo studio0.6 km from Durham
Dare U — Tattoo studio, found on Market Place in Durham. Also worth knowing about Dare U: it has a website with more detail.
Market Place, Durham, DH1 3NJ
The Ink Cell
Tattoo studio0.6 km from Durham
The Ink Cell is Tattoo studio on Market Place, Durham.
Market Place, Durham, DH1 3NJ
Skins & Needles
Tattoo studio0.7 km from Durham
Skins & Needles — Tattoo studio, found on 10 Elvet Bridge in Durham. Also worth knowing about Skins & Needles: it has a website with more detail.
10 Elvet Bridge, Durham, DH1 3AA
Eagle Ink Tattoo Studio
Tattoo studio1.9 km from Durham
Eagle Ink Tattoo Studio is Tattoo studio. Eagle Ink Tattoo Studio also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
Durham, DH1 1QF
Front Street Tattoo Co.
Tattoo studio2.3 km from Durham
Front Street Tattoo Co. is Tattoo studio.
Slingin' Ink
Tattoo studio2.7 km from Durham
Slingin' Ink is Tattoo studio on 31 Marshall Terrace, Durham.
31 Marshall Terrace, Durham, DH1 2HX
Glink
Tattoo studio3.7 km from Durham
Glink is Tattoo studio on 38 Frederick Street North, Durham. Glink also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
38 Frederick Street North, Durham, DH7 8NB
The Prophecy
Tattoo studio3.9 km from Durham
The Prophecy — Tattoo studio, found on Station Road in Durham.
Station Road, Durham, DH7 7PX
True Love Tattoo
Tattoo studio5.3 km from Durham
True Love Tattoo — Tattoo studio.
Body Art Tattoo Surgery
Tattoo studio6.1 km from Durham
Body Art Tattoo Surgery — Tattoo studio, found on 47D Front Street in Durham.
47D Front Street, Durham, DH7 9XB
Artful Ink
Tattoo studio6.2 km from Durham
Artful Ink is Tattoo studio.
Dtattz Studio
Tattoo studio9.2 km from Durham
Dtattz Studio is Tattoo studio on Front Street, Chester-le-Street.
Front Street, Chester-le-Street, DH3 3AR
Darkside Tattoos
Tattoo studio9.4 km from Durham
Darkside Tattoos — Tattoo studio, found on 23a North Burns in Chester-le-Street.
23a North Burns, Chester-le-Street, DH3 3TF
Will's Supafly Tattoos
Tattoo studio9.9 km from Durham
Will's Supafly Tattoos is Tattoo studio.
What the map tells us about tattoo shops in Durham
None of the 15 has opening hours in the map data, so treat this as a browse-and-discover trip. Most tattoo studios work by appointment anyway, so call or message before dropping in.
5 have websites listed. Studios with websites usually show portfolios there — the fastest way to tell if a shop's style matches yours.
There's a cluster: 2 of them sit on Market Place, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.
The Durham tattoo shop tour
The efficient Durham tattoo shop tour strings these together: Buzzin Guns on 6 Neville Street, Dare U on Market Place, The Ink Cell on Market Place, Skins & Needles on 10 Elvet Bridge, Eagle Ink Tattoo Studio, Front Street Tattoo Co., Slingin' Ink on 31 Marshall Terrace, and Glink on 38 Frederick Street North — 15 stops, one logical order. 7 more are listed below.
Tattoo tips for Durham
A few things worth knowing before you work through Durham's tattoo shops:
- Eat before your session at Buzzin Guns. A real meal, not a granola bar. Long sessions on an empty stomach are how people faint.
- Check the sterilisation setup at Dare U. Single-use needles, sealed ink caps, gloves changed constantly. A good studio is happy to show you; a bad one gets defensive.
- Cover-ups need a specialist. Not every artist does good cover-ups. Look for healed cover-up photos in the portfolio, not just fresh work.
- Trust the artist's placement advice. They've seen thousands of bodies. If they say the design won't age well there, listen.
Good to know
We searched about 25 km around Durham — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new tattoo shop in Durham can take a while to appear. Spotted a closure among the 15, or a tattoo shop we missed entirely? The map is the source of truth here — one OpenStreetMap edit corrects it for everyone.
We don't rate studios or artists, and we never list prices — those are between you and the shop. What we list is the where and the how-to-find, from places real mappers have verified.
If you run one of the 15 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Worth the trip: more tattoo shops around Durham
48 more within about 25 km of Durham — here are the 15 nearest:
Tattoos by Gary
Tattoo studio10.4 km from Durham
Tattoos by Gary is Tattoo studio.
Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 4DJ
Viking Ink
Tattoo studio12.3 km from Durham
Viking Ink is Tattoo studio on 53 Hope Street, Crook.
53 Hope Street, Crook, DL15 9HU
Tattoo Studio
Tattoo studio13.5 km from Durham
Tattoo Studio — Tattoo studio, found on North Road in Chester-le-Street.
North Road, Chester-le-Street, DH3 1LG
Inkheart Tattoo
Tattoo studio13.6 km from Durham
Inkheart Tattoo — Tattoo studio.
Angel Tattoo's
Tattoo studio15.8 km from Durham
Angel Tattoo's — Tattoo studio, found on Victoria Road in Sunderland.
Victoria Road, Sunderland
Tattoo
Tattoo studio15.8 km from Durham
Tattoo is Tattoo studio on Front Street, Sunderland.
Front Street, Sunderland
Obi Studios
Tattoo studio16.0 km from Durham
Obi Studios is Tattoo studio.
Pixelated Ink
Tattoo studio16.1 km from Durham
Pixelated Ink — Tattoo studio, found on Chopwell View in Stanley.
Chopwell View, Stanley, DH9 9EE
Kustom Ink
Tattoo studio16.2 km from Durham
Kustom Ink — Tattoo studio, found on 5 Upper Yoden Way in Peterlee. Also worth knowing about Kustom Ink: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
5 Upper Yoden Way, Peterlee, SR8 1AX
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00
Phone: +44 191 5180 333
Punkture
Tattoo studio17.0 km from Durham
Punkture is Tattoo studio.
Tattoos
Tattoo studio17.5 km from Durham
Tattoos — Tattoo studio, found on Southend Road in Gateshead.
Southend Road, Gateshead
Tattoo Mania
Tattoo studio17.9 km from Durham
Tattoo Mania is Tattoo studio on 522 Durham Road, Gateshead. Tattoo Mania also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
522 Durham Road, Gateshead, NE9 6HU
Phone: +44 191 487 5737
Dark North Tattooing
Tattoo studio18.2 km from Durham
Dark North Tattooing is Tattoo studio on 26 Victoria Road, Consett.
26 Victoria Road, Consett, DH8 5AY
Tenthirteen Tattoo
Tattoo studio18.2 km from Durham
Tenthirteen Tattoo — Tattoo studio.
Ace Tattoo
Tattoo studio19.1 km from Durham
Ace Tattoo is Tattoo studio on Derwent Street, Sunderland.
Derwent Street, Sunderland
Tattoo shop listings for Durham: 15 in Durham and 48 more nearby mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.