City's market square lions get spring clean

Nottingham's Old Market Square lions have been given a touch of civic pride with a spring clean.

The two-tonne Art Deco statues which sit either side of the entrance to Nottingham City Council had been dubbed "The Green Lions" online due to algae and moss forming following recent wet weather.

But this growth has now been jet-washed at a cost of less than £200, the council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Deputy leader Ethan Radford said the pair had "cleaned up really well and look great standing proud in front of the Council House".

Speaking at a meeting in July 2024, Radford said that given the extent of the financial challenges the council was facing, funding a spruce-up of the Council House facade and lions was "not high on our list of priorities".

Repairs are still needed for stonework to the building's front, the dome, flooring, and areas of the roof which leak.

The sculptures incorporate Greek mythology with the left lion named after Agamemnon, the ruler of Mycanae.

A hero of the Trojan War, he was forced to sacrifice his own daughter to appease the wrath of the goddess Artemis.

The right lion is called Menelaus, after the King of Sparta and husband of Helen of Troy.

The man responsible for sculpting the pair was Joseph Else, the head of Nottingham School for Art in the 1920s.

The Wetherspoon pub overlooking Old Market Square was named in his honour.

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