In the 00s, Britain was a bad place for small collections and especially aquaria. Its almost like a purge of indie collections, and even award winners like Hillside were lost. People would say many of them were shed cities or roadside attractions, but that's all most of us could ever afford to open. And what would they prefer? The now-degraded London? The kitschification of Chester? All of those zoos and even little seaside aquaria, were local to a community. And that means a bit of a community died inside.
Belgium: Limburgse Zoo (Genk) Aviflora (Ingelmunster) Gent Zoo (Ghent) Aquatopia (Antwerp) Zoo Terdonk (Ghent) Wazoo (Sint-Niklaas) Brussels Zoo (Brussels) Melipark (De Panne & Brussels) Rijk van Lobo (Waarbeke) Mauppertuus Park (Wellen) and several aquaria
Of all the now-closed UK animal collections, the two that I most regret closing are Kilverstone (with its great collection of neotropical mammals) and the RSCC (with its fascinating collection of rarely seen species). Listed below, are some thirty plus animal collections in the UK that I visited and which have subsequently closed; most, but not all, of these are featured on the Bartlett Society list. I suspect my list should probably include a few other minor closed collections that I have visited and which have temporarily slipped my mind. Basildon Zoo Blackpool Tower Aquarium Blean Bird Park Bournemouth Aquarium (a different place to the current Bournemouth Oceanarium) Brixham Aquarium Cricket St. Thomas Crystal Palace Children’s Zoo Gatwick Zoo Glasgow Zoo Ilfracombe Zoo Kilverstone Leeds Castle Aviary London Butterfly House (Syon Park) Margate Aquarium & Mini Zoo (Cliftonville Lido) Margate Aquarium (Palm Bay) Margate Dolphinarium (Queen’s Hotel) Margate Zoo (Dreamland) Mole Hall Merley Bird Gardens Olney Flamingo Gardens Peakirk (Branch of Wildfowl Trust) Poole Aquarium & Serpentarium Poole Park Zoo Ramsgate Zoo (on the seafront) Rare Species Conservation Centre (RSCC) Robin Hill (Isle of Wight) Rode Tropical Bird Gardens St. Catherine's Island Zoo (Tenby) Southampton Zoo Southend Zoo (in Peter Pan’s Playground on Southend Seafront) Southend Aquarium (near entrance to pier; not to be confused with the current Southend Aquarium) Stagsden Bird Gardens Tropical Wings (currently still open but closure is imminent) Windsor Safari Park
Guessing, from its omission from your list, that you don't count Blackbrook as a closed collection? Closed on December 3rd actually
Blackbrook, with its great waterfowl collection, is sorely missed; I didn't include it on my list as another collection has opened on the same site. OK thanks; I was under the impression that Tropical Wings was remaining open until the end of the year which is why I commented "closure is imminent"
Fair enough although the same criteria will soon apply to RSCC too. Yeah, the collection which is still (just about) open is Chestnut Centre - you have 4 days to get there!
A few others which I visited but are now closed. Bideford Zoo Exmouth Zoo. Ferndown Zoo( very vague memory but I did visit...) Southam Zoo. Bird Garden. St Lawrence IOW. Plymouth(Chipperfields)
Agreed; but the site of the RSCC is currently closed and, anyway, where do you draw the line? Would you consider the old Brighton Aquarium as a closed collection because the aquarium is now operated by the SeaLife Centre?
I watched the first four minutes of the drone footage of the closed Belle Isle Zoo (post 21 in this thread). I love those boardwalks and it seemed to have very nice, large natural yards. It looks like a good zoo so I wonder why it closed?
Its crumbling Detroit, that should explain something itself. But a new zoo did open and there is a 1904 aquarium. Home - Detroit Zoo Belle Isle Conservancy Don't know if you know Detroit, but I want to savour the urbex. I imagined the future world would look half like Detroit does now, and half like Kowloon Walled City. Well, Kowloon has long gone, but I can still see Detroit one day. Detroiturbex.com - Exploring and Understanding the City of Detroit
Interesting site (Detroiturbex). I am a photographer so I appreciate the aesthetics of photographing urban decay. Here is the page on the site that describes what happened with Belle Isle Zoo: Detroiturbex.com - Belle Isle Nature Zoo / Safariland
I was surprised to see there was a zoo in Wellingborough, a town not far from me. I only learned about it through the forum as it closed back in 1970. Not a lot of info/pictures out there.
The zoo entrance still exists, there's a local museum in the town that has a little info about the zoo too
Thinking about the decline of England's small animal collections, made me think about the roadside exhibitions and attractions that have closed in the US. Maybe someone should start a site like this one (Roadside America), to promote smaller, independent collections in Europe. Add any unusual or historic zoos or aquaria to the Atlas Obscura if you can write an introduction. Including any closed but viewable sites ofc. Roadside America - Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions Atlas Obscura I saw this on AO, btw. Abandoned Zoo Ruins
Correction: Pacific Primate Sanctuary is not closed, but is not and from what I can tell has never been open to the public for visitation.
