Bookings soar at Wolverhampton sign row shop

New Romantic Ink Tattoo Studio won support from hundreds of people on the internet, despite being spoken to by Wolverhampton City Council about the sign.

The sign in the Berry Street parlour window was removed within hours of being put up after tattooist Dan Flavell began to worry it could be 'misconstrued', but not before it had been photographed and put on social media by a passer-by.

The city council also sent officers to the shop to speak to the owners.

Mr Flavell stressed he was not saying foreign customers were not welcome, and that he had put the sign up after an incident in his shop in which an Iranian man was arrested by police on suspicion of making death threats following a dispute over the price of a tattoo.

The 25-year-old man has been bailed pending further inquiries.

Mr Flavell has since replaced the sign with a photograph of Will Ferrell from the comedy film Anchorman and a quote from the movie reading: 'Well that escalated quickly'.

He said: "We've actually had a 50 per cent increase in bookings since the story was picked up by the Express & Star. And the bookings are from people of different nationalities too.

"We've had a lot of support on Facebook, which we are really grateful for. Even if people did not agree with the sign, they understood what made me put it up.

"We absolutely condemn racism. Everyone is welcome here. Our business involves putting permanent markings on people's bodies, so it's essential we can communicate with customers without any room for doubt.

"That's what brought the sign about. I accept it was not worded as well as it should have been.

"People have also pointed out that if someone doesn't understand English they wouldn't understand the sign."

The sign was spotted by University of Wolverhampton lecturer Dr Aidan Byrne, who put a picture of it on Twitter and wrote on his blog, entitled Plashing Vole.

Hundreds commented on the story on the Express & Star's Facebook page.