A petition by a history teacher arguing the Bargate lions should be painted black has finished with just four signatures.

The petitioner, who runs two Southampton-based YouTube history channels and has a combined 3,000 subscribers and nearly 2m views, said he wants the lions to be changed back to black to give them more ‘gravitas’.

The petition ran for just under five months, but finished on January 6 with only four signatures.

The 280-year-old lions, standing guard outside the ancient walled entrance to the city, were painted black in 1900, but were repainted in their original beige in 2021 after being removed for repairs following one of their tails falling off.

The petition said: “We the undersigned petition the council to repaint the lions guarding the Bargate black in colour.

“Originally the lions were in their present lifelike colour but that was in the days when most people in England had only heard about lions.

“Today most people know what a lion looks like and they now seem incongruous.

“By painting the lions black again it would give them more gravitas in keeping with the Bargate which is one of the best-preserved structures of Medieval England.”

A petition needs 1,500 signatures to make it to Southampton City Council for debate.