Town pocket park featuring famed flamingos opens

A screening of the King's Coronation was shown in the Hat Gardens on 6 May, before its official opening

A town centre "pocket park" featuring five famed fibreglass flamingos that used to be in a shopping centre has been officially opened.

It took a year for the work to be completed on the Hat Gardens in Luton.

The park was built on the site of the former Silver Street car park, which used to have the River Lea flowing underneath.

Plans are in place to add similar parks throughout the town, Luton Borough Council said.

The flamingos used to be in a Luton shopping centre and are about 30 years old

Toby Maloy, the authority's town centre regeneration programme director, said: "I'm very excited as a Lutonian that gets to work for your hometown council and be able to design, deliver and open one of the first new pieces of public realm in Luton town centre in decades."

It has plants, trees and an amphitheatre that runs down to the river, which will be used for "micro events", he added.

He said the council was working with the Environment Agency and Luton Town Football Club, with its new town centre stadium due to be built, to create a "string" of similar parks.

"We could end up with a continuous river walk through the town centre," he said.

The flamingos that used to be in the former Arndale Centre, now Luton's Mall, were installed in the park in February, but were briefly taken down after a "slight glitch". It also emerged they were originally installed without planning approval.

However, they are now "there for good", said Mr Maloy.

"They're over 30 years old, they were designed to be inside, so we've got to keep an eye on them to see how they'll survive against the elements, but we're hoping to keep them up there for as long as they survive," he said.

Events to mark the opening are taking place throughout the day, with festivities continuing with a family fun day on Saturday between 12:00 and 16:00 BST.