Belle Vue Zoological Gardens - Commercial History

Commercial History

Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was the brainchild of entrepreneur and part-time gardener John Jennison. He opened the grounds around his home in Adswood, Stockport to the public in 1826, from where he and his wife Maria sold fruit and vegetables. He called his establishment the "Strawberry Gardens", later "Jennison's Gardens". Manchester's increasing urban population encouraged the development of a thriving leisure industry, and public parks were popular. In 1828 or '29, Jennison purchased an adjacent 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) of land on which he and his wife built an aviary, to which they charged admission; its first occupant was a captured thrush. Jennison turned his home into a public house, the Adam and Eve, which he and his wife ran together.

In 1835 Jennison was approached by businessman George Gill, who suggested that he lease Belle Vue – a public house in 35.75 acres (14.47 ha) of open land between Kirkmanshulme Lane and Hyde Road – as a more suitable site for his aviary. Jennison took out a mortgage of £300 to pay off the £80 mortgage on the Strawberry Gardens and spent the remainder on a trial six-month lease of the Belle Vue property, in June 1836. In December, Jennison signed a 99-year lease at a rent of £135 per annum. For an extra £100 a year, he leased additional land to extend the western boundary to Redgate Lane, close to Stockport Road, where he made a second entrance. To finance further expansion, Jennison re-mortgaged the site for £800.

Except for their belongings, which fitted on a handcart, all the Jennisons took with them to Belle Vue was two or three birdcages containing parrots and other assorted birds. At its opening in 1836, Belle Vue contained an Italian Garden, lakes, mazes and hothouses, as well as the aviary. The family decided that their zoological collection had to be expanded as a matter of priority, and by 1839 elephants, lions, and other exotic African animals had been added. Many other attractions were subsequently added, including a racecourse in 1847. The gardens were an immediate success, but the neighbouring St James's Church was offended that they were open on Sundays, and asked Jennison to close while services were being conducted; he "politely but firmly refused".

Admission to the gardens, which were open until 9 pm during the summer, was by subscription ticket priced at 10 shillings for a family and 5 shillings for an individual, beyond the means of most workers. Concerts of "genteel music" were staged, and there was dancing to various bands on a large open-air wooden platform. Initially, the only public transport to Belle Vue was by horse-drawn omnibus from what is now Piccadilly, in central Manchester, but the last departure time of 6:00 pm coincided with the end of most workers' shifts. The first railway station was opened near Belle Vue in 1842, allowing workers easier access to the gardens and their attractions, and by 1848 complaints began to appear in the press that "roughs" in coarse attire were embarrassing middle class ladies on the dancing platform by attempting to dance with them. There were also complaints about working class men dancing together, and increasing resentment from working class patrons about Belle Vue's "forbidding dress requirements, its restricted opening hours, its unwelcoming admission price". In the words of historian David Mayer, Jennison was facing a crisis: "either keep Belle Vue Gardens an exclusive, class-specific, genteel preserve for the gentry and the middle class – who would arrive and depart in their own carriages through the Hyde Road gate – or open the gardens to a popular crowd who would arrive by train at the Stockport Road (Longsight) gate". For a time, Jennison sent carriages to the railway station to collect the first class passengers, but he also abandoned the idea of subscription tickets, settling instead on a general admission price of 4d, rising to 6d in 1851.