BODY art is big in Swindon – you only have to look at the town’s first tattoo competition to see how popular it is.

Interest in the contest was so big that future events are being considered.

Yates’s bar in Bridge Street hosted the Swindon Ink contest with many weird and wonderful tattoos on show.

Dragons and demons mainly ruled the men’s entries, while women had butterflies and flowers etched onto their bodies.

Organiser Russell Ward said the event had been a great success.

He is hoping to stage another contest in the summer.

“It has been brilliant and is hopefully the first event of many,” he said.

“Loads of people are interested in tattoos and we are thinking of having a summer event in August.

“It’s about expressing yourself and showing off the body art to like-minded people.”

Tattoo lover Michelle Ward, Wiltshire Times reporter Katie Adams and Swindon Advertiser reporter Ben Perrin judged the event.

After discussing the originality, creativity, quality of the body art and if there was a story behind the tattoo, they came up with their top five out of the 20 people who had entered.

Chris Young came fifth, Grant Jones was fourth and in third came Kirsty Ellis.

Just missing out on the top spot was Joel Coady for his geisha-turned- skull on his arm. Joel won a £25 bar tab at Yates’s.

But the winner was Steve Nicholls for his religious Michelangelo-style effort on his arm.

“I’m hoping to get more done still,” he told the judges.

“I’m not religious but I think it’s really creative.”

Steve won £50 worth of vouchers for a tattoo at the newly opened Urban Stylez in Manchester Road.

Judge Katie, 28, of Old Town, said: “It was really interesting to hear all the amazing stories behind people’s tattoos.

“Some of the stories were unbelievable.

“I especially liked hearing from Grant Jones’ from Orange County in America about having his tattoos done during his time in a Californian prison.”

For more information about this event and future competitions, visit the Swindon Yates’s page on www.facebook.com and click on to Swindon Ink. Alternatively, call Yates’s on 01793 484924.