Hundreds flock to abandoned sofa after it becomes village’s biggest tourist attraction

Hundreds of people have flocked to have their photo taken on a dumped sofa in the middle of a village after it became an unlikely tourist attraction.

Since finding fame, the two-seater settee has been mentioned on TripAdvisor as something to do in Lydbrook, Gloucestershire and has a dedicated Facebook page.

It was dumped on a wasteland in the middle of the village in early April.

Photographer Alex Elton-Wall thought it presented an opportunity to document the local community and has since taken more than 150 portraits of nearby residents sitting on it.

He said: ‘A piece of rubbish turned into something fun – as an amateur documentary photographer it has been a great opportunity to photograph the local community.

‘It is hard to take pictures of families these days and it has been an amazing opportunity to take pictures of the community.

‘As people came down they made the sofa their own – people came with their families, their dogs, the landlord and landlady of the pubs came down as well.’

The sofa’s Facebook page is called Lydbrook Lounge and also features visitors posting photographs of themselves.

The sofa caught his eye when he drove past it, inspiring him to take photos with the out-of-place furniture.

He said: ‘I kept driving past the sofa and thinking it looked really cool – on one hand it looked sad but on the other hand looked quite homely and familiar.

‘On Sunday the 13th of April I woke up and the weather forecast for the next week was not that good so I decided to do something about it.’

Call out for ‘brave enough’ people – and animals

He then put a call out on social media for anyone ‘brave enough’ to have their photos taken on the sofa – and the response was keen.

Alex ended up staying at the spot all day taking pictures – shooting around 40 pictures of different people.

The idea was so popular that Alex had set up photoshoots almost every day last week to snap pictures of than 150 local people, along with lots of dogs, a chicken, a tortoise and a horse.

The village pub’s landlord brought along beer barrels to the unique photo opportunity.

Now, the results will appear in a photobook, which will be revealed in July, with money from the proceeds used to pay for playground equipment in the village.

Alex said: ‘It has mainly been locals, families with children, people walking their dogs.

‘I’m taking a photo of the village football team, I’ve taken pics of local musicians, local businesses and I have taken pics of the guys who work in the local village.

‘Everyone has their own little angle. It is going to make a really nice book of photos.’

The sofa craze inspired the village’s very own ‘Banksy’ to emerge.

More items started appearing next to the sofa as the week progressed – including a side table, a plant in a pot, a lampshade, a coffee table, a magazine rack and a rug.

The community believes the additions are the work of village’s secret artist Tumpsy – who was behind a rash of googly eyes popping up all over the village a couple of years ago.

‘It took this life of its own,’ added Alex.

But, the sofa will not delight residents forever.

Alex explained that locals are aware the sofa’s life will eventually come to an end as the item has been fly-tipped.

Alex said: ‘It won’t stay there forever. Locals will make sure it is properly disposed of.

‘All good things come to an end.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.