Poet's toads refuse to croak over fund snub

But the backers of "Larkin with Toads" were putting on a brave face days after Hull Council withdraw 200,000 sponsorship.

An official launch in Hull featured mock-ups of some spectacular toads which will feature in a citywide art installation this summer, coinciding with the return of the Clipper yacht fleet.

Organisers are hoping the toads will provide as irresistible a draw as elephants, penguins and Superlambananas have done in other parts of the country.

Chairman of the Larkin25 steering committee Prof Graham Chesters said they had considered hedgehogs – the poet and former Hull University librarian Philip Larkin famously mowed one down – but there were safety issues with spikes.

He said they hoped to reach a mass audience both at home and abroad and were redoubling efforts to gain private sponsorship, after Hull Council pulled out on Monday.

He said: "Cow Parade in Manchester, Superlambananas in Liverpool and Go Penguins just before Christmas and elephants in Norwich, all these have increased visitor numbers and they have increased visitor exposure and other media – and what is so striking is they engage the community.

"We don't expect to get over half a million visitors but the potential is there."

The first business to take on a 2,750 toad, Mike Killoran from the city's Princes Quay shopping centre, urged others to sign up. He said: "We have seen the tremendous potential for Larkin25 and seriously hope all business can get behind this. The more people we can bring to the city the more benefit it has for everybody in the city."