It’s been a while, crocodile.

Swindon said see you later, alligator to its famous and popular gharial, which is actually a member of the crocodile family, when the town’s art gallery and museum was closed in early 2020.

But after some extensive restoration work, she’s back. And when the Euclid Street Civic Offices is ready to host the new Museum and Gallery on its upper floors, the gharial will be able to take pride of place, but not upstairs.

The 100-year-old stuffed prehistoric beast was restored by specialist natural sciences conservator Simon Moore, following damage and natural wear and tear to the creature.

Work included replacing teeth with scrap ivory to restore the original look, replacing the old plastic eyes with new, more realistic glass eyes, restoring claws on the feet and adding back missing pieces of the tail.

The restoration was funded from the regular collections care and conservation budget held by the museum's team.

The council's cabinet member for culture Councilor Marina Strinkovsky said: "It's wonderful to have her back. She's been saved for Swindon, she's in one piece and very good condition."

But her size means there's had to be some thought of where she might go in the civic offices.

Cllr Strinkovsky said: "The display case for her is 4.6 metres long, nearly 14 feet. We need that space upstairs for the display and changing exhibitions, we can't afford all that space up there.

"I wanted her to go in the foyer of the offices, but she's too big even for that- she'll get in the way of the fire escape routes, so, in the end, we decided she'll go in the nice wood-panelled room to the left as you approach the chamber- we've got changing displays of art in there now - and it's a good space and she'll go in there."

Cllr Strinkovsky said progress was being made with the conversion of the upstairs, although there were issues with the supply chain, and items ordered from overseas, but she added: "I'm reasonably confident we'll be opening in the spring.

"And having the gharial back is a symbol that we're moving towards opening the museum and gallery up again."

The gharial was originally a hunting trophy, and her first known owner was Major Morton Hiles, who lived in India between 1916 and 1922.

Hiles later lived in Warminster and gave the gharial to Warminster School. In 1931, the school’s vicar offered the specimen to Swindon Museum, as they needed more classroom space.

Gharials are currently a critically endangered species, with experts estimating that there are fewer than 1,500 left alive in the wild.