Giant pom pom appeal as artist looks to beat the thieves

The mystery of whatever happened to a giant bobble hat stolen from outside Jamie Oliver's Leeds restaurant last week may never be solved. But the artist behind the idea is refusing to be beaten. As reported on The Northerner , cheeky thieves made off with the synthetic hat that covered the traffic light controller box outside Jamie's Italian restaurant off Park Row. 'Cosy' was part of a project by Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre to brighten up the city's streets by inviting artists to decorate the boring grey junction boxes that clutter many a pavement. The theft was captured on CCTV. This YouTube video has been watched more than 14,000 times in the past seven days: The man behind the hat, Sheffield-based artist and architect Tony Broomhead, has now agreed to make a new hat - but needs some help from local people. He said: "The general feeling is that [the theft] was rubbish and that something great (or certainly unusual) was taken away by a couple of drunks. So I have agreed to make a new hat. We have been inundated with messages of support, with many people wanting to help. "So I am asking people to help by making a pom pom of any size to form a sort of giant pom pom for the people of Leeds. It's a fluffy way of showing that people are interested in public art and the public actually take great joy from its wittier, dafter and more unexpected forms. "If people have time to make a pom pom, or know someone who does, please drop me a line." Artist Broomhead can be emailed on [email protected] .