The renowned Andrew Gormley statue is huge, ugly and out of place. Fortunately in the 15 years since it has been finished, the trees have grown and help mask the monstrosity. Disparagingly referred to by the locals as the ‘Gateshead Flasher’ it is taken very seriously in some quarters and there was a terrible hoo-ha when some Newcastle United fans put an Alan Shearer shirt on it…
It was erected in an attempt to put Gateshead on the map make people feel proud of the town which had become very run down and deprived and lead to a regeneration of the area, I have to conceed that it has done all of this, but I still don’t like it…