Situated at either side of the steps leading to the front entrance of the Council House are two lions. Affectionately known as Leo and Oscar, these two regal figures were sculpted by Joseph else, principal of the Nottingham School of Art.

The lions, like the Council House, have become etched in the psyche of local people who will probably have clambered over them as children and used them as a meeting point with friends and lovers.

It would be virtually impossible to meet a Nottinghamian who doesn’t know the lions, and unusual to find one who has never used them as a meeting place!