As a part of Plymouth Town Council's plans for reinventing the city as somewhere holidaymakers would want to visit, plans were made to construct a giant metal prawn and place it in the dead centre of Plymouth’s historic Barbican, among the pubs and the fudge shops. Plymothians fought against this monstrosity from its conception, claiming that such a sculpture would ruin the quaint feel of its surrounding. After reconsidering the idea for a long time, the Town Council stuck two fingers up at the populace and built it anyway. Complaints about this were met with the slogan 'We’re bigger than
you, and we know where you live, so shut up.'

The reasons why the Plymouth Barbican *needed* a Giant Metal Prawn are, unfortunately, lost to the mists of time. It is still a much-loathed feature, and has failed to tempt any extra tourists into the area, but Plymouth is now, without a doubt, the Giant Metal Prawn capital of the world.

It is still unknown if within its iron case there are mechanisms which should move the Giant Metal Prawn's limbs about. There were rumours that maybe during the 1999 eclipse or at the turn of the Millennium the Giant Metal Prawn would descend from its high pedestal and dance to selected tunes from the popular album Step One by the popular pop group Steps.
Maybe it is a twisted mechanoid, hell-bent on enslaving Australians and barbecuing them.

Whatever schemes the Giant Metal Prawn is in the process of hatching, it is no doubt very lonely, being as it is the sole member of its species. If anyone sees another Giant Metal Prawn wandering unhappily around the galaxy, could you please point it in the direction of Plymouth? Thank you.