After more than a quarter of a century in business, Cosmic Tattoo is preparing to celebrate one year in its current home.
Located on Sir Isaac’s Walk — this is a milestone in the latest chapter of a story that began all the way back in 1998.
Owner Leigh Oldcorn, 56, founded the studio as a one-man operation and has remained in the town centre ever since, moving only short distances to improve the space as the business grew.
“We’ve all stayed in the same half mile radius of Colchester town centre,” he said.
“We just sort of moved to a better building each time — a bigger or better building.”
The current premises will mark its first anniversary on March 10, but the studio’s roots run far deeper.
Leigh, himself a tattoo artist specialising in black and grey work, chose Colchester deliberately when opening his first shop.
“I really liked Colchester. I thought it’d be a great place to start my first studio,” he said. “It was very successful and still is… and here we are, what, 28 years later — still in Colchester town centre.”
From those beginnings, Cosmic Tattoo has expanded into a seven-artist studio, with each member bringing a distinct speciality.
“All the guys in the shop have different styles,” Leigh explained. “We have people that do colour realism… people that do Japanese style work. Each artist has their own particular speciality.”
Rather than positioning itself at either end of the market, the studio aims to balance quality and value.
“I don’t think we’re the most expensive and we’re maybe not the most cheap,” he said. “We just try to do quality work at a fair price.”
Operating in a town centre has not been without challenges, particularly amid changing shopping habits and economic pressures. Still, Leigh describes the business as steady.
“It’s tough, obviously town centres are finding it a little tougher with online shopping,” he said. “But we’re steady. We just keep plodding on year after year.”
One of the most rewarding aspects, he added, is seeing generations of customers return.
“We have quite a large client base of regular customers,” he said. “Last week I tattooed the son of a long-term client. And we’re actually getting to the point now we’re tattooing the kids of people who’ve come here for years.”
Above all, Leigh credits Colchester itself for the studio’s longevity.
“People in Colchester are lovely, they’re into tattoos, I’ll give them that,” he said. “I feel very much at home here.”
As Cosmic Tattoo approaches its first anniversary at Sir Isaac’s Walk, that sense of belonging — built over nearly three decades — appears to be its strongest ink of all.
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