Bell Vue Zoo and Fair in Manchester. Does anyone remember it?

[sharrovian]

Back in the 1950s my Dad won £39 on the "pools" and took my mum, younger brother and me and my then girlfriend (later my wife) to Belle Vue for the day on the train, we did everything and also had a dinner. £39 in those days was a small fortune, it was a great day out.

[Janner]

Never went there but remember passing it on the train to Blackpool.

[Eater Sundae]

I only went once, around 1967 give or take a year.

 

The only sideshow I remember was the woman living amongst wild rats.

 

I remember it because it was so poor. A cage, probably 5 or 6 ft square, with a single chair, and a totally bored teenage girl in a bikini, reading a magazine. There were about 3 or 4 equally bored pet white rats wandering around the cage.

[staninoodle]

We used to go to Belle Vue quite often,Ive old cine film of some of our days out there.

I went back sometime in the 80s when all the animals had gone and it had become a rundown funfair of sorts.

I had great memories but,I recall how poorly the animals were treated,people threw allsorts into the pens,and stubbed their fag ends out on the elephant that gave rides,the polar bear enclosure was full of litter floating in the water and some of the cages were very small.

[lazarus]

I remember the Hippo that was there, it was in a very small pond and it was full of litter, the keeper fed it cabbages. Happy days.

[dpjbown]

Went once or twice remember the big dipper called "the Bob's " last time I went I took the kids and it had been closed 10 years. So we went to Chester Zoo 🥴🥴

[dsweetman]

I recall being taken to a circus around christmas time by the parents of a school friend,Micheal Armstrong, it became an annual trip for a few years and would have been in the 1950,s.

[Wensley1]

I visited belle view in the 60s and vaguely remember a flea circus and motor bikes on the wall of death.  Or did I imagine it?

 

[joinerisme]

Went on a school trip from Lancaster in 1968,they had a waxworks with movable figures,frightening.Also "The Bobs" roller coaster which looked derelict.

[Jim Hardie]

23 hours ago, Wensley1 said:

I visited belle view in the 60s and vaguely remember a flea circus and motor bikes on the wall of death.  Or did I imagine it?

 

The Belle Vue flea circus was still going in 1970, apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_circus