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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.  The lions and tigers had
open-air enclosures at the back of the Fireworks Island
close to the Bear Terraces. - Lions -  and generously donated by him on behalf of CHEZRASCALS MEDIA  - Tigers -     ******************************* - Tigons -  *********************** - Leopards -    The images above were donated by Tommy Kelly **************************************** All the material on
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