An update on Bristol Zoo Gardens

In 2020, we announced that we were closing Bristol Zoo Gardens in Clifton, to build a new conservation zoo at Bristol Zoo Project.

Following its closure in 2022, we have been preparing the site for sale. This has been a complicated process!

Since 2022, we have moved our animals, significant parts of our higher education activities and our volunteer and schools programmes, to the Bristol Zoo Project site.

We have also repurposed as much as possible, moving furniture and other items to Bristol Zoo Project. For example, our new red panda habitat at Bristol Zoo Project is made in part from an old Clifton enclosure.

Following the closure of Bristol Zoo Gardens we brought in a specialist archivist to identify items of historical value to be retained. We have also ensured aspects of the site are listed and therefore protected and can’t be moved, such as the famous sign - ‘To the Zoo’ - on Guthrie Road. In addition, we asked the public to contact us if they had personal items they would like to secure and have returned everything from plaques on benches, to portraits and plants.

We are now at the final stages of this process and there are still items at the Clifton site that we can’t reuse, from old play equipment to fridges and animal enclosures.

To ensure this equipment and furniture doesn’t end up in landfill, when others might make use of it, including other zoos and animal facilities around the country, we are selling some items through a trade auction, which will run until the middle of July.

As a charity, any money made from selling these items will help to fund the creation of a new conservation zoo and our important education and conservation work.