SINCE its urban beach was installed at the beginning of August, the British summer has been somewhat of a damp squib.

So bosses at the Coppergate Centre are hoping that hanging up 40 umbrellas will bring better weather fortune this September.

The attraction will stay until the end of September and has been created in partnership with York BID.

“Part of the York BID’s remit is to take pride in our city centre and make it as attractive as possible for residents and visitors alike,” said executive director Andrew Lowson.

“The Coppergate team does a fantastic job so we are delighted to be able to partner with them on Brolly Walk.

“We hope that this could become a colourful annual addition to York’s event calendar – adding something new and exciting to a familiar space.”

Whilst in the Coppergate Centre, visitors are invited to enjoy wonderful photographic work from York Camera Club, which undertook a year-long study of the changing colours of Coppergate.

Their work is on display at the pedestrian entrance to the Piccadilly Car Park, between Fenwick and TopShop.

Coppergate Centre manager Pippa Unwin said: “After fantastic weather in July, we were very excited to have the urban beach opening for the whole of August.

"However, it seems we must have upset Freyr, the Viking god of rain, and even drawn the attention of Thor’s thunder bolts with this year’s Coppergate Strand, as we’ve barely had a dry day since it opened.

“We decided that we needed to make a suitable tribute to the weather gods to draw their favour, so throughout September, we’ll have 40 umbrellas suspended the length of Coppergate Walk.

"If the beach brought the rain, perhaps the opposite will be true with the umbrella installation and we’ll have a wonderful Indian summer ahead."