Has Britain got all the zoos it can sustain? Could it sustain more zoos? The economic climate isn't conducive to starting a new one but if it weren't for the economy could a new zoo be started? Where would it be? There's no point being too close to a well established one but to be reasonably successful it shouldn't be too remote. Should a new urban zoo be created or is a rural location better? If a new zoo was opened, could a reasonably sized one open, say Colchester size, or would nothing bigger than 10 acres be better? Should it have a good mixed collection or is something specialist called for?
I always thought there should be one on the Stockport/Ashton side of Manchester. Such a big city not having a zoo of it's own is all kinds of wrong! And Chester is quite a long way away....especially if you live in the Calderdale/Kirklees/Bradford sort of area.
North East - enough said. Closest are Flamingoland or Edinburgh, 2-3 hours drive. The Tyne and Wear metropolitan area has a population of around 1.2 million people, and is well connected with public transport.
I agree Manchester should have a zoo. I don't know we don't have one. We did of course have one even though it may not have been the best but it did close in the days when there were different standards and expectations. I'm not so sure why East Manchester/Tameside/Stockport would be your area of choice. The North East does have a lack of zoos so they should have at least one major collection. I think we are deprived in Greater Manchester. Blackpool and Chester are not a million miles away but I'd far rather not have the drive to get to these collections. But, of course, we can't all live close to a zoo.
I would imagine that another Zoo in the North West (say Merseyside or Greater Manchester) would have to be a very good one to compete with Chester and Blackpool, but it would not be impossible
But it's crazy that what is Britains 3rd largest city (if not 2nd largest, which is often argued now) has no collection at all....apart from Smithills farm! I'd choose East Manchester because it's on the opposite side to Chester, Knowsley, and Smithills (which is still a popular place), and it would also serve Derbyshire and West Yorkshire.....that's why.
Would Dorset's population of 745,400 be able to sustain a major Wildlife collection outside the summer season? I'm no demographic expert but I'm sure it could, Durrell seemed to think it could, and was rejected by Bournemouth and Poole councils when applying for permission to build his zoo!
I disagree.....it wouldn't have to compete with Chester and Blackpool at all. It would have to be good, but not mind blowing. You see, what you're not taking into account is the British public aren't members of Zoochat, and aren't comparing one to another. To them, a zoo is a zoo! You're also not taking into account the extreme laziness of the average Greater Manchester citizen.....why travel to Chester when it's on your doorstep? There's certainly a large enough population in the surrounding area to carry one.
Number of Zoos Durrell did I think get planning permission, but it was dependent on restoring Upton House, which would have left no money for the actual zoo. Wish he had been able to set up in Dorset, whose holiday trade may now be more viable than the Channel Islands'.
Even the average zoo visitor will have probably do some sort of research before visiting and will want to ensure they get their money's worth. Any new zoo, unless they were backed by a millionaire or the council (rare in the UK) would be unlikely to have superstar species contained at Chester and Blackpool, such as Lions, Elephants and apes. That being said, you do make some interesting points regarding how it could work, and would of course not be opposed to a new zoo opening!
Oh of course there'd need to be a huge chunk of cash involved (which I don't think is beyond the realms of possibility if some creative thinking was put into raising it), but I don't think you need to have elephants and apes to have a great zoo.....plenty manage without. And I know of a very small privately owned zoo that will soon be getting it's own lions! Thing is, your average family would be just as happy with a smaller zoo, if it was done well, and (most importantly for northern families) if it was reasonably priced! Chester is a really expensive day out for a family of 4....especially if you have to travel 1 or 2 hours to get there. A cheaper alternative that the kids enjoy (plenty of play areas etc), would do very well in competition with it's bigger rivals.
That's interesting- I never knew the exact location before... My guess is a Zoo in/outside Poole might have been far more economically viable as far as receipts from visitors is concerned, than located in outlying Jersey.
Don't forget that the Chestnut Centre and Blackbrook are quite easy to access by road from south Manchester and the Leeds collections (Tropical World, Lotherton Hall and even Harewood House) are not far from north east Manchester via the M62. I do accept that all of these are much harder to reach on public transport. Alan
Actually, Chestnut Centre and Tropical World are pretty easy to reach by public transport, per my thread on the subject not attempted the other two Leeds collections, so cannot speak for those.
I don't think Blackbrook would be too much competition considering it has no visitors. Same with Leeds.....I bet they get almost no footfall from Manchester folk.
I get to them from time to time from Bury - they are all roughly equidistant with Chester and Blackpool, although I admit I go to Chester much more frequently. Alan
You live exceedingly close to me. How long does Tropical World take? What does Tropical World have to offer? I've no doubt they've got a web site but you can't beat word of mouth.
If Edinburgh can maintain a zoo then surely Glasgow (with greater population) or somewhere nearby should also be able to do so. I note that Glasgow had a zoo, but it probably wasn't very good.
