The colourful 140 year history of Belle Vue – Manchester’s lost pleasure garden Over its 140 year history, Belle Vue Zoological Gardens survived war, hosted rock legends and was an iconic source of entertainment […]

Over its 140 year history, Belle Vue Zoological Gardens survived war, hosted rock legends and was an iconic source of entertainment for many.

At its peak, Belle Vue occupied 165 acres and attracted more than two million visitors a year, but the zoo closed in 1977 due to financial difficulties, and the site was finally cleared in 1987.

Thirty years on, we take a look at the colourful history of Manchester’s legendary pleasure garden.

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The elephant who walked from Edinburgh

Founded in 1836 by John Jennison (a Stockport entrepreneur who had some previous success with a small aviary he ran with his wife, Maria) Belle Vue was the first privately financed zoo in England.

By 1856, the collection included monkeys, kangaroos, rhinos, lions and bears, and more animals joined once Jennison handed over the running of the zoo to his children in 1870.

One of the most famous arrivals was Maharajah the elephant, bought from an Edinburgh zoo in 1872 for £680.

Maharajah was supposed to be transported to Belle Vue by train, but – having torn the roof off his compartment with his trunk – it quickly became clear that another mode of transport would be required.

The elephant, along with his trainer Lorenzo Lawrence, instead had to walk from Edinburgh to Manchester, a journey which took ten full days but was apparently without incident – apart from an alleged argument at a toll gate about the correct charge for an elephant.

Lawrence decided to stay with Maharajah once they arrived, and became head elephant-keeper at Belle Vue for over 40 years. Maharajah worked for his keep, too, giving rides to visitors and pulling carts until his death 10 years later.

Maharajah’s skeleton was preserved, and is now on display at the Manchester Museum.

Elephant rides continued to be a popular attraction at Belle Vue for many years.

Musical chimps and man-eating tigers

Another of the zoo’s famed animals was Consul the chimp, who wore a cap and jacket and smoked a pipe. Consul arrived from London in 1893, and was a huge hit with visitors.

After his death, he was swiftly replaced by Consul II, a chimp who could ride a tricycle and play a violin at the same time.

By the early 20th century, the zoo’s collection of animals made it the third largest in the UK.

A 1931 handbill boasts of ‘forest-bred lions’, ‘man-eating tigers’, giraffes, sea lions, a hippopotamus and ‘a Huge Snake 30 feet long, the largest in captivity’.

Gun fire, air raids and rationing

The zoo survived the war years, despite the animals suffering rationing and air raids.

During the First World War the gardens were used by the Manchester Regiment for drilling, and a munitions factory was built.

The zoo remained open throughout the Second World War, save for a couple of weeks initially in September 1939, and profits even increased.

A night shift was introduced to watch over the animals 24 hours a day, and keepers were armed with rifles should they have to deal with any dangerous animals which might escape if the zoo were bombed.

The Daily Mail noted in 1941 that the animals were “having to try out new ‘dishes’ on their day-to-day menus” since the war had made scarce their usual feed.

The paper also revealed that, under orders from the Ministry of Defence, all meat for animal consumption had to be clearly marked with a harmless green dye.

Beauty, a 5 year old lioness at Belle Vue, apparently “looked suspiciously” at her 8lb ration of horse flesh, suddenly an alarming emerald green colour, though she was “not upset” by the new development.

The animals also had to contend with gunfire and air raids, and the Manchester Evening News revealed in 1941 that ‘the elephants showed sign of fear’ at the noise, while the ‘most terrified’ were the antelopes and deer.

Zoo curator Gerald Iles told the paper that ‘the cat species never seem to worry at all, while the monkeys get excited and chatter.’

In September 1945, the Hallé Orchestra celebrated the end of the war with a 50 concert Victory Season at Belle Vue.

The Bobs and the speedway

In 1925, the Jennison family sold their attraction to Belle Vue (Manchester) Ltd, who built a world-famous amusement park to join the zoo’s other attractions.

Two years later, popular rides included Scenic Railway, the Dodgems, the Caterpillar, the Ghost Train, and the Flying Sea Planes.

One of the most famous rides was the Bobs (so-called because it originally cost a shilling to ride) which was a thrilling roller coaster, offering views of the Gorton skyline.

“You’re pulled up by a chain to a height of 85 feet, then travel a mile at a speed of 60mph. On top of the first big dip, you feel sure you’ll fly off and land in Scotland,” said The Picture Post of the ride in 1943.

High speeds were clearly popular, as Belle Vue also became synonymous with speedway.

In 1928, the 1887 athletics ground was converted into a speedway stadium, the largest purpose-built speedway stadium in the country at the time, with covered seating for 40,000 spectators.

The Rolling Stones at Belle Vue

As well as the zoo, amusement park and speedway, other Belle Vue attractions included concerts, a circus, exhibition halls, a boating lake with paddle steamers, a scenic railway, grand firework displays and re-enactments of celebrated battles.

The first display was a re-enactment of the Bombardment of Algiers, involving 25 men, 300 rockets, 25 large shells, and 50 Roman candles. It was watched by 18,000 spectators.

In 1853, Belle Vue staged the first British open brass band championships, which became an annual event until 1981.

The Kings Hall (which opened in 1910) housed the Hallé Orchestra for several years, and later hosted concerts by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

The Rolling Stones played the Kings Hall to 3000 screaming fans in the summer of 1964, and a report in the Daily Express the next day revealed that “scores of girls fainted”.

During what sounds like a particularly eventful gig, “girls fell like ninepins” and had to be carried to an overflowing ambulance room where they were given sedatives.

Two female police officers also fainted, while “helmets flew and shirts were ripped”.

The final days

During the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, Belle Vue was one of the most famous attractions in the North West, but the popularity of its heyday was no longer sustainable.

In 1977 the zoo announced its closure, unable to support its £100,000 a year losses, and today little survives of the splendour that was Belle Vue.

The site has been developed for residential and business use, with only a greyhound racing stadium, snooker hall and cinema remaining as traces of the extravagant pleasure gardens once so popular among generations of Mancunians.