As the city gears up for some Halloween celebrations, there is a frightening sight in Millennium Plain.

A giant spider, which measures six by four metres, is hanging from the front of the Forum.

The work of the UK's only specialist inflatables company, run by Norwich-based brother and sister Arthur and Isobel Harries, it was commissioned by Norwich City Council for a Halloween parade and will be suspended outside the city centre venue until Sunday evening.

The tarantula took three weeks to make, using a traditional process and no computers, by the company that made Pink Floyd's inflatable pigs.

'It's a family-run business that has been going for 40 years,' said Miss Harries, 26, of Airtech Inflatables.

'My mother left the company to Arthur and I when she retired nine years ago, but it is something we have grown up with. We are all really old-school and go through a design process that uses models and no CAD software.'

The tarantula was the first model entirely designed by Mr Harries and adds to the more than 300 inflatables Airtech has for hire.

Local commissions include pieces for the Lord Mayor's Procession and the Jelly Festival and A-list requests have come from Lady Gaga, Take That and Coldplay among others.

The Spooky City Parade takes place at 6.30pm on Friday, starting and Norwich Castle and finishing at the Forum.

People are invited to 'dress to impress' for the half-term fun and there will be ghoulish performances and glowing pumpkins outside the Forum after the walk.