"Created by Michael Sandle, the work was commissioned by the Mountleigh Group for what, at first glance, looks like a quintessentially 1980s office block. In fact, the building was St Bridget's House and built in the early 1950s and later reclad in the 1980s, when its main entrance was shifted from Bridewell Place to what had previously been a service yard on Dorset Rise."
"Cast by the Morris Singer Foundry, the work depicts a stylised mounted St George atop a sloping grid, raised on a tall octagonal plinth of open metalwork. A dragon coils around the structure, its four brass tongues doubling as fountain spouts. Installed in 1988, it must once have made quite an impact. Today, though, it looks decidedly unloved. The fountain is bone dry, and the surrounding landscaping is as plain as it comes. For the entrance to a large hotel, the area has the feel of being forgotten."
A large sculpture of St George and the Dragon by Michael Sandle stands behind St Bride's Church, cast by Morris Singer Foundry in 1988. The work was commissioned by the Mountleigh Group for St Bridget's House, built in the early 1950s and reclad in the 1980s when the entrance moved to Dorset Rise. The piece shows a stylised mounted St George on a sloping grid atop an octagonal open-metal plinth; a dragon coils with four brass tongues as fountain spouts. The fountain is dry, the landscaping is plain, and the entrance to the converted Premier Inn feels neglected, leaving the sculpture little noticed. A working fountain and an explanatory sign would revive the site.
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