Belle Vue Zoo was quite the popular attraction in its heydey.
Step back in time and the Zoological Gardens were a big draw.
Belle Vue was also noted for its Victorian amusement park and an annual circus which pulled in the crowds year after year.
The zoo opened its gates in 1836, starting off with just a small set of birds, but at its peak brought in two million visitors a year and was one of the biggest in the country. However it closed down in the 1970s due to mounting debts.
The park then followed suit and closed in 1982.
Belle Vue has also, of course, been known for generations for its racetrack too and we’ve included a photo from 1926 when the first greyhound race was held.
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1. Give us a song
American crooner Morton Downey singing to a hippopotamus at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, 1936 Photo: A. J. O’Brien/Fox Photos/Getty Images
2. Anyone for cricket?
Billy II, a kangaroo at Manchester zoo, playing cricket with his keepers, date unknown Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
3. Harry the Parrot
A taxidermist stuffs Harry the parrot for the museum at Manchester Zoo in 1933. Harry was the most popular parrot at Belle Vue Gardens for nearly 50 years. Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
4. Mirror image
Eileen Rock and Eileen Chaisty see themselves afresh during a visit to the hall of mirrors at Belle Vue amusement park, 1943 Photo: Felix Man/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images