Bristol Zoo Gardens is to close permanently in 2022 and relocate to the Wild Place Project, Bristol Zoological Society has announced.
The zoological charity says the new Bristol Zoo will safeguard its future following years of financial struggles which have worsened due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The plans were announced after the second lockdown forced both sites to close, after months of closure during the peak spring and summer months.
“This year has been by far the most challenging year the Society has faced in its 185-year history,” says chief executive Dr Justin Morris.
“But for many years Bristol Zoo Gardens has been struggling with fundamental and persistent challenges. Namely an inability to meet the changing needs of the animals within the available space and infrastructure, and declining visitor numbers.
“These challenges have had an enormous impact on our finances and the impact of Covid-19 has caused us to radically rethink our plans about the future and how we address the fundamental and persistent challenges that we face in order to save Bristol Zoological Society.”
The new Bristol Zoo will offer spacious, modern facilities, significant growth in conservation and education work and a ground-breaking, innovative visitor experience. In order to deliver this ambitious new vision and to secure its future, the Clifton site will be sold.
Bristol Zoological Society, which is a registered conservation charity, has 178 active shareholders who elect a board of 12 independent trustees to govern the Society. All 12 trustees recently voted unanimously in support of the Society’s new strategy.
The Executive Board and Trustees of Bristol Zoological Society will be leading a planning permission process to ensure that the future of the Clifton site is something that the organisation will be proud of and leaves a lasting legacy of Bristol Zoo Gardens.
It will include an ‘urban conservation hub’ in the zoo’s iconic main entrance building to ensure the heritage and story of the Clifton site will continue to be told. This would also become the base of the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project community and conservation programmes, an exhibition of Bristol Zoo Gardens’ heritage and a café.
New housing will be created in areas of the site where there are already built structures, and the existing gardens will be largely unchanged.
Bristol Zoo Gardens will remain open until late 2022 and visitors will not see an immediate change while plans are developed further. Wild Place Project will remain open throughout this time, until it becomes the new Bristol Zoo from early 2024.
