Sunglasses season is obviously over for Manchester as the advert for Sunglass Hut has been removed from 3097 and has now been replaced by a new wrap for Sealife and Legoland, both attractions operated by Merlin and located at the Trafford Centre. Some may have a bit of déjà vu about this advert as in March and April 2025 the tram had an ad for (just) Sealife!
This new advert is a half and half type with one half of each side advertising Sealife in a dark blue design and the other half being yellow for Legoland. The Sealife part is incredibly familiar as it is in effect the same vinyls as it carried before with the “SEA IT TO BELIEVE IT” slogan and a shark,
The Legoland Discovery Centre section of the advert is all new though and includes a bright yellow background and images of people enjoying playing with Lego – this part of the ad is different on each side of the tram.
This is now advert number four for 3097, all of them within the past year. First up it was Cheez-It (September 2024-January 2025), then Sealife (March & April 2025) and finally Sunglass Hut (June-July 2025).
This shows the Sealife end of one side of the tram, showing its remarkable similarity to how the whole tram looked just a few short months ago.
Another look with 3097 now showing us the Legoland section of the advert on one side.
And the other side of the tram shows us the different Legoland Discovery Centre set of vinyls. (All Photographs by Reece Hughes, 21st July 2025)