Dippy the dinosaur draws 10,000 visitors in first week in Coventry

Curator Ali Wells said the visitor numbers for Dippy has been "absolutely phenomenal

More than 10,000 people have visited the Dippy the dinosaur exhibition in Coventry in its first week.

The 26-metre long (85ft) skeleton began a three-year residency at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum on Monday.

The interest in Dippy has been "absolutely phenomenal", curator Ali Wells said.

"Last January and February together we had about 13,500 visitors so we are doing two months in two weeks," she added.

Dippy the diplodocus first went on display at London's Natural History Museum in 1905, where it was viewed by millions of people.

A whistle-stop tour of the UK followed in 2017 before his three-year stay in Coventry.

Most visitors have come from the city but others have travelled from across the Midlands, Ms Wells said.

"We are absolutely delighted the people of Coventry and even further afield are coming to have this time with Dippy."

Free tickets have been made available for advance booking and the museum said every hour they were expecting 250 visitors in addition to walk-in guests.

Demand was expected to be high during Easter as well, Heather Kincaid from the museum added.

"It's just such a massive thing for the city and for Coventry following on from the City of Culture year, it's amazing to have something of this scale," she said.

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