It's the mascot of Glasgow nightlife. A beacon of drunken banter, a poster child of late night antics, and a long-running landmark that doubles up as a city-wide in-joke. Heck, it's even been cited by the Lonely Planet as one of its Top 10 Most Bizarre Monuments on Earth. Yes, we all love the Duke of Wellington statue cone, it gets a smirk every time we pass it, and we've all dreamt of being brave/foolish/drunk enough to climb atop that horse and create some modern art all of our own.
But until this morning, the cone, at its current height, was at risk.
Glasgow City Council entered an application to have the plinth restored, and raised to double its height in a bid to discourage the late night crowning ritual which occurs, they say, 100 times a year. But the Keep The Cone campaign was launched to quash the application, in a saga, us folks on Twitter are calling #conegate.
The First Duke of Wellington statue outside the Gallery of Modern Art on a rare bald day. Boring, no?
Campaigners, Donna Yates and Gavin Doig set up a Change.org petition which drew over 10,000 signatures in 24 hours, while a Facebook campaign attracted some 60,000 likes. Those opposed to the restoration argued that not only is this novel landmark an iconic piece of local culture and a symbol of the Weegie banter, but that raising the plinth would only result in more accidents as the rambunctious and the persistent endeavoured to get that cone to the top, whatever the height of the Duke.
Luckily the council saw sense - or ahem, crumbled under the pressure of social media - and the application was withdrawn this morning. Campaigners who were planning a demonstration, are now plotting a victory rally at 5pm today, on Royal Exchange Square to celebrate.
Boozey banterers, nightlife ninjas and hootenanny hijinkers of Glasgow, rejoice, your mascot is safe. The Cone is here to stay...at least until the council take it down again tomorrow.
