Luton: Return of former Mall flamingos stalls

The return of "iconic" flamingo figures to a town has stalled after a "slight glitch".

Five restored fibreglass birds last seen in Luton's Mall - formerly the Arndale Centre - were installed in the new Hat Gardens on Silver Street earlier this week.

Luton Council said there had been a problem securing one of them

"To be on the safe side, we are taking them all down while we sort the issue," the authority tweeted.

"They will be back up again soon," it said.

A flamingo fountain with eight birds was installed as a feature in the then three-year-old Arndale Centre in 1975.

When the building was refurbished and renamed The Mall in the 1990s, this centrepiece was replaced by five smaller birds that looked like they were flying out of the roof.

These were later removed in favour of a mural on the walls of Central Square and Bute Square in the shopping centre.

The five suspended flamingos in the new installation on the southern bank of the open Lea River are the restored original smaller flying birds.

In a planning application submitted on 16 January - which according to the council's website has not yet been decided - the council said the pink flamingos had an "historic connection with the town" and were known as "an unofficial emblem" to residents.

"The iconic symbol will bring back many memories from local residents who used to visit the shopping mall as children," its report said.

It added that the introduction of the flamingos to Hat Gardens would "generate interest through the town encouraging residents to revisit the town centre".

When they were installed on Wednesday, the council said it knew "a lot of people have fond memories" of them but "you don't have to have a twinge of nostalgia to enjoy them".

It said they were a "lovely, colourful new addition to Hat Gardens for everyone to love".

Removing them less that 24 hours later, the authority tweeted: "Unfortunately we've had a slight glitch securing one of our beauties but to be on the safe side we are taking them all down while we sort the issue."

Last year, the council tried to track down the original eight fountain flamingos with a view to putting them back on display.

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