Wallace and Gromit statue coming to creator’s home town

A Wallace and Gromit statue will be unveiled in the home town of the man who created the characters.

The animated duo will be depicted as they appeared in The Wrong Trousers and the life-sized pair will be seen next to a bronze bench.

The bench will be installed outside Preston Markets later this year, with visitors likely keen to have their picture taken with the famous characters.

Designed by Preston-born Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park and the team at Aardman in consultation with local sculptor Peter Hodgkinson, the bench is currently being produced at the Castle Fine Arts Foundry in Wales.

A planning application for the bench has been submitted to Preston City Council and it is hoped the bench could be installed in August this year.

The bench is being funded from a pot of £1 million in initial funding Preston received from the Government’s national towns fund initiative for the Pop-Up projects which aim to encourage visitors back into the city after the pandemic.

Park said: “It is such a great honour for me, as a proud Prestonian, to see my characters Wallace and Gromit cast in bronze and given pride of place in my hometown.”

John Chesworth, chair of the Preston Partnership and the Preston Towns Fund Board, said: “Nick is one of our most famous living Prestonians and it’s great that we can celebrate his achievements with this new sculpture.

“Wallace and Gromit are familiar to millions and the films are hugely popular with all age groups.

“We very much look forward to welcoming the duo to Preston and to inviting people to come into the city centre to visit them.”