{"id":772857,"date":"2026-09-16T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772857\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T20:16:09","slug":"boltons-beloved-elephants-are-finally-coming-home-after-11-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772857\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolton&#8217;s beloved elephants are finally coming home after 11 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The town&#8217;s three colourful elephant statues are being returned to their original home on Newport Street after packing their trunks in 2015.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Construction work is taking place with the elephants appearing at the top of Newport Street and Great Moor Street.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The trio, Ellie, Elmer and Mister Jackbow, have been fully restored and repainted ahead of their return.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  They were previously moved to an area near the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theboltonnews.co.uk\/news\/11662204.crash-near-octagon-car-park\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Octagon car park<\/a>, close to the play area, where they remained while work was carried out.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Their return means they will once again stand close to Bolton Interchange, where they are expected to be among the first sights seen by people arriving in the town centre.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/> (Image: NQ)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The elephants were named by local children following a public competition and have become a familiar part of Bolton&#8217;s identity.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Their return was announced by Bolton Council in May as part of wider plans to make the town centre more welcoming.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The restoration is being funded through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theboltonnews.co.uk\/news\/26552706.big-win-residents-roads-chosen-slice-6-5m-pothole-repair-fund\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pride in Place Impact Fund,<\/a> alongside other planned improvements across the town centre.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  These include a double-sided LED screen outside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theboltonnews.co.uk\/news\/25319728.appeal-man-exposed-making-racist-remarks-bolton-interchange\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bolton Interchange<\/a>, new wayfinding, murals celebrating local history, upgraded outdoor power units and new seating.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The council has also outlined improvements to lighting and CCTV, while defibrillators have already been installed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>The Bolton elephants (Image: Bolton Council)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Bolton has a long association with the elephant emblem, with theories linking it to historic trade with India and the use of the Elephant and Castle as a symbol of strength and dignity.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The installation is part of plans to &#8216;create a vibrant and welcoming town centre that celebrates its heritage and unique identity&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The town&#8217;s three colourful elephant statues are being returned to their original home on Newport Street after packing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-772857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}