THE anchor from the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 will be officially unveiled in Southampton tomorrow evening.

The 13-tonne steel anchor, one of two carried by the liner, was moved to its new home in front of Holy Rood Church in High Street in July.

City mayor Terry Matthews will unveil a plaque next to the anchor at a ceremony at 6pm.

It will form part of the QE2 Mile, a pedestrian route of historic sites that runs through the heart of the city from the Cenotaph down to Town Quay.

QE2 made her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on May 2, 1969.

After a near 40-year connection with the city, she left Southampton for the final time on November 11, 2008 to become a floating hotel and tourist attraction in Dubai.

Work on transforming QE2 should have been completed in 2009, but the recession forced her new owners to postpone the project.

QE2 is now berthed in Dubai with a skeleton crew undertaking the minimum of maintenance as QE2 awaits an uncertain future.

The anchor was a joint gift from the Dubai royal family and Cunard.