BELLE VUE ZOO GARDENS MANCHESTER 

It was a brilliant day out. The elephant ride was joy for 4-year-old me on my first visit, about 1956. One of the keepers was an old army comrade of my Dad's from the Normandy landings all the hard and bitter way to Hamburg. I got a special ride, sitting on the elephant's neck like a mahout - with someone on the Howdah holding on to make sure I didn't fall off. But the best bit was at the end, when the kind and gentle elephant lifted me off with her trunk and put me into my Dad's arms.

Glad but sad! The black and white images make me feel so old. As I child I recall asking for or anticipating BELLE VUE visits. The sights and the sounds were magic to us as children, the animals we would never have seen otherwise. Looking back at the different "natural habitat" zoo's I have visited since there is a sadness to what was considered normal at the time and the stark environments in which animals were displayed or survived. Even the little people boxing makes me feel sad that there was a little bit of a Ripley's believe it or not! aspect to BELLE VUE I never saw as a child.

I lived on kirky lane across from station-approach fireworks almost every night had a dancehall beer garden every amusement ride under the sun the zoo and animals very well cared for there were two huge car parks across from zoo filled every night all the day trip buses it was a goldmine and across the street the dog track saw a lot of stars at the big hall l couldn’t believe that they had closed it down and razed it to the ground it had everything

Lovely what a wonderful place and a lovely piece of nostalgia a bit like battersea fun fair in London sadly all gone love the speedway in that film lòok at the crowds fantastic

This footage is like my mother used to tell me about, she lived on grey mare lane, her maiden name was rogers , saturday night at belle vue the dancing or the circus and she was a big peter craven fan watching the aces,i went on to watch peter collins and ivan mauger,the whole belle vue set up was really special to those that remember.

Champion! Brought back lots of happy memories.

The place was a Health & Safety nightmare...... but we all loved it.

Lovely! A wonderful evocation of slower and simpler times, and how neat and tidy everyone and everyplace looked , despite people then having fewer material possessions. Did we go wrong somewhere along the line?

remember it a lot, when i told people you could ride an elephant, people wouldnt believe me, still trying to find pictures of the swinging axe thing as you walked in. some nice photos iv not seen before

Come on now the peel company,time to bring something back like this to manchester,looked awesome,any videos on the fighting,bare knuckle ,,the history of this place is nearly forgotten to the youth of today

What year did this close?