Much-loved frog bubble clock breaks down at Milton Keynes shopping centre

The famous bubble-blowing frog clock has broken down at the city’s shopping centre, leaving hordes of children disappointed.

Bosses at Midsummer Place say the bubbles stopped blowing around two weeks ago due to a mechanical fault.

But the good news is that it will hopefully be working again by the end of the month,

New parts were needed before the clock could be repaired but these have taken time to arrive.

“The parts have to be specially ordered as it’s an intricate piece of engineering... We’re still waiting for them to arrive but hopefully it should be next week,” said a spokesman for the shopping centre.

The Frog Clock has been one of the biggest attractions Midsummer Place for the past 20 years ago.

It is one of the largest indoor animated clocks in the country and weighs over four tonnes. Conceived by the artist Kit Williams, who wrote the book Masquerade, it combines illusion, intrigue and fantasy within a glorious timepiece for young and old to enjoy.

The clock was built on a Cheltenham pig farm and took two years to complete. It opened 18 months later than planned due to delays caused by the foot and mouth crisis, combined with health issues of the artist.

The iconic clock music was composed by Terry Oldfield, brother of Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells fame.

It plays half hourly and hourly, when hundreds of bubbles are released from the frog’s mouth.

On previous occasions when the frog has broken, shopping centre staff have hidden at the top of nearby stairs with a bubble gun to ensure children are not disappointed.