An announcement on the return date is expected shortly.

"Five months after the Games, the vast majority of my emails ask, where's the bull?" Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid told insidethegames.

"When's it coming back?"

The bull, which was the signature centrepiece of the Opening Ceremony, was transported to the city centre and became an unexpectedly popular tourist attraction during the Commonwealth Games.

"We thought there might be some engagement but certainly not to that level," Reid admitted.

"We never anticipated hundreds of thousands of people daily coming to see the bull."

Ceremony organisers revealed that the bull was originally planned on a much smaller scale.

"It started life much smaller but as ambition for the ceremonies grew the bull grew with it," director Phil Batty told insidethegames.

“A group of us were locked in a room on the night of the Opening, cooked up a plan with our friends in the West Midlands Police to bring it into the town centre overnight," Batty revealed to insidethegames.

A location in Centenary Square was chosen because it was close to the BBC television studios, the Birmingham megastore and big enough to accommodate the sculpture.

A temporary ice rink and a big wheel have been installed on the site for the Christmas period.

"We have got attractions for Christmas in Centenary Square but they are not coming in the numbers which we pulled in during the Commonwealth Games for the bull," Birmingham City Council Leader Ian Ward told insidethegames.

The original bull was made of polystyrene as a property for the show but it has required repairs and strengthening before it is put on permanent display.

"We need to make sure it is safe for the public to engage with," Reid said.