Gromit cut a rather forlorn figure at Paddington on Sunday morning.
Among all the hustle and bustle of the busy London station, the Aardman Animations sculpture was largely ignored.
Visiting Gromit at Paddington not only ticked off all 80 sculptures on the Gromit Unleashed trail for me (see them all here), but it also afforded me rare time to see how the public interact with the five-foot high pooches before I had to catch a train back to Bristol.
When a train pulled into platform 8 or 9, there was a flurry of camera phone activity. Ears were grabbed, face hugged, nose kissed, buggies artfully placed to one side.
The keenest Gromit-spotter I saw was a young lady dressed in an Olly Murs 2013 tour t-shirt, who instructed her friend with the zeal of a Hollywood director what best angle from which to take her photo.
But it was all very far removed from back in Bristol where queues were forming over the weekend at many of the sculptures.
This Gromit, the original version, was largely ignored for the 20 or so minutes I watched.
When I posted a photo on Twitter of the dog on his own dwarfed by Paddington’s cathedral-like roof, the response was largely one of sadness.
“aaaaaw, poor Gromit!” summed up the mood of Gromit fans in Bristol.
In London, they are made of sterner stuff.
A quick straw poll of passers-by revealed that seven out of 10 people did not know the reason Gromit was here.
“I’ve heard about it loosely,” one man told me as his children posed for photographs, but the majority were clueless.
There is a small plaque on the plinth explaining what Gromit Unleashed is, but I saw one woman use it as a table for her bags and then walk on, completely ignoring Nick Park’s world famous creation.
I have also heard stories of people visiting Paddington specifically to visit the Gromit who have been unable to locate him.
Gromits in other locations on the trail, such as aMazing Gromit at Cheddar Gorge, certainly do not shy away from promoting their own attractions next to their sculptures.
So why not proactively promote Bristol and the Gromit Unleashed trail in one of London’s busiest railway stations?
It’s a huge opportunity missed, as between platforms 8 and 9 Gromit remains a forlorn figure.
I tried to find him today at Paddington having walked around Bristol today with my brother and nephew and niece finding the Gromits there. They’re hiding him if they are putting him on platform 8 and 9!
We went to Bristol partly to see Gromits, mainly balloons. We saw no balloons! cancelled. We did get into Gromit spotting, and this was a great idea.
There are at least 2 more, which I guess might be unofficial – one is on the roof of Dundry School, and another is on one of the ferries which move around Bristol docks.
There’s a few more “small” Gromits about: I saw one inside one of the open top buses that tour Bristol, there’s one inside the cathedral that was designed/decorated by students from the cathredral school. There’s also another one at Berkeley primary school (was at the Berkeley show last weekend too).
I have been gromiting all over Bristol for the past few weeks and am really struggling to find the time to go to London. As much as I love the Gromit trail and will feel saddened if I cannot complete them all – I don’t have the heart to spend a lot of money travelling to Paddington and back.
In theory it was a great idea to put it in London in an attempt to attract more visitors to Bristol. Unfortunatly many of us based in Bristol will be unable to finish the trail – which is a real shame.
Gromit is coming back to Bristol, not just for the gathering of Gromits at the art studio, but earlier, to maudlin street. And we will be able to tag it. This news was released well over a week ago!
There are loads of the small Gromits around. My daughter’s primary school has two (one each for the infant and junior schools) there is another at my office which members of staff helped a local school to decorate.
We’re going to Paddington at the weekend to find our final Gromit – I hope he’s not *too* difficult to spot!
We had a day trip to London (from Yeovil) to find the 80th Gromit on Sunday. While we were there we met another family from London who’d been on holiday in the west country and had spent most of it finding the other 79!
I think it’s a fantastic idea and must’ve brought in a load of tourism to the city.
Must admit I wasn’t previously a fan of Bristol but haven seen lovely parts of the city that I didn’t know about and one not so nice when getting lost trying to find Snow Gromit – all part of the fun though!