See the Mackem monsters who've taken over Sunderland city centre

In time for spooky season, a Mackem Monster Hunt has taken over city centre buildings for the next 10 days, until November 1.

People can get in the Halloween spirit by spotting the six inflatables which are crawling on top of buildings such as Bridges car park and Software Centre, as well as downloading a free app to find seven augmented reality monsters who do everything from dancing to blowing you a kiss.

There’s 13 in total: Howler, Smoocher, Sludger, Chomper, Scary Mary, Rocky, Groaner, The Tuts, Brains, Hydra, Twisty, Goofs and Triff.

The trail follows the success of last year’s inflatables at Mackie’s Corner and Bridges car park and, although full scale Halloween celebrations can’t take place this year, it’s giving people the chance to enjoy the festivities whilst social distancing.

Natalie Dellow, marketing and communications officer with Sunderland BID, said: “The inflatables last year, particularly the tentacles, made a huge impact so we knew we wanted to bring them back. The same one that was on Mackie’s Corner is back on St Mary’s car park, so this year we’ve called her Scary Mary.

"But because everyone loved the tentacles so much, we decided to take it up a notch and and introduce lots more characters, with real inflatables as well as the augmented reality app. The app monsters appear when you open the app at the specified locations and they’re really interactive, so Smoocher will blow you a kiss and The Tuts dance.

"Because it’s all outside people can social distance and they can do the trail at their own pace. It’s a bit of light-hearted fun and something colourful at a miserable time for people.”

If you follow the trail on the app it will also unlock deals for businesses in the city such as Grinder, The Looking Glass, CoffeeHaus and Sunderland Bowl.

Once all 13 monsters have been collected, the app offers the opportunity to download your favourite creature and see the monster come alive at home – or at any other location.

Anyone who signs up on the main menu for future events will also be automatically entered into a free prize draw for a £100 Bridges’ gift card.

The free app is available on the app store by searching “Sunderland Experience”

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