Lions, Tigers and Other Cats
Lions, Tigers and Other Cats

Below is an extract from the 1947 Belle Vue Zoo Guide



The Lion and Tiger House was located close to the Hyde Road Entrance. I remember that across the way was a penny arcade with slot machines of various kinds and automatons that performed their actions when plugged with money. I seem to remember a haunted house and a house on fire. If you entered the Lion and Tiger House from the Hyde Road end, close to the door you passed, a small collection of birds including a talking parrot.

Images of "The Lion and Albert" are quite appropriate here because the visitors were separated by a row of wrought iron fencing from a series of concrete cages fronted by steel bars. Inside lived what Mike Harding refers to as the "mangy" lions of Belle Vue with a few feet in which to roam. Little wonder they seemed to spend much of each day sleeping and ignoring the people on the other side of the bars.

In later years the big cats moved out doors. Taken in the 1960s, the photograph of the male lion below would suggest that Beatlemania had reached Belle Vue.

Lions © David
                  Boardman

The lions and tigers had open-air enclosures at the back of the Fireworks Island close to the Bear Terraces.

- Lions -

Image taken in 1974 by Matt Pearce Bolton

and generously donated by him on behalf of CHEZRASCALS MEDIA





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- Tigers -

Tiger © Ray Chadwick

These tiger images are shown with the permission of Ray Chadwick.

Tiger © Ray
                  Chadwick





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- Tigons -




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- Leopards -








The images above were donated by Tommy Kelly


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