A hulking dinosaur is set to smash up Croydon’s iconic town centre on Saturday - and children are being invited to help the monster out.

BBC TV presenter Richard DeDomenici will be donning a Godzilla outfit to destroy a scale model of the town at the Clocktower Arts Centre in Katharine Street.

The model was started by children on November 13, and the plan is to finish the structure on November 20 before Mr DeDomenici unleashes the full force of the prehistoric monster suit.

A Croydon Council spokesman said: “It’s fun art projects like this that get young people interested in where they live, and we are in the process of trying to rebuild the centre of Croydon to make it a fantastic place for future generations.

“Of course if developers do want to start again with any of the existing buildings we expect that they will call in the professionals - not Godzilla.”

The free event will run between noon and 6pm.