Bristol Zoo memorabilia auctions face challenge

Some of the items up for auction are decades old

Lawyers have been consulted in a bid to stop memorabilia from the former Bristol Zoological Gardens being sold at auction.

The zoo closed in September 2022 after 186 years and items from the attraction are set to be auctioned off on Friday and Monday.

The shareholders' group, led by Save Bristol Zoo campaigner Tom Jones, is arguing that until the zoo is officially sold for development, any memorabilia should not be auctioned.

A zoo spokesperson said any legal challenge was "not only wasting vital funds, but they are preventing us from saving wildlife and building a new conservation zoo”.

The gorilla island sign will be very recognisable to regular Bristol Zoo visitors

Some items were sold at an event last Friday, with 300 pieces including vintage posters, signs and statues - including a bust of the zoo’s famous gorilla Alfred - due to be sold this Friday.

While on Monday, an auction is set to take place to sell about 40 mid-Victorian benches that were used by visitors to Bristol Zoo over generations.

Mr Jones, who is a shareholder for the zoo, said he and a group of other shareholders were unhappy for the online auctions to continue.

“As a group of extremely concerned shareholders, if the auctions can’t be stopped in time, we strongly urge people to bid on these items with a view to one day donating them back to Bristol Zoo Gardens, once a better future has been secured for the site," he said.

Tom Jones says nothing was said about the auctions at a shareholders' meeting in October

Mr Jones said shareholders were both “deeply concerned and offended” the auctions had not been mentioned during their annual general meeting (AGM) in October, with just one previous mention - in June - of an auction to sell a “few items”.

“But not that they were going to strip the site bare,” he added.

“It’s the equivalent of someone leaving their property and smashing it up before they leave, vandalising something over which they are only custodians.

“And it feels like they are trying to destroy any connection between the zoo and its future.”

Bristol Zoological Gardens closed its gates for a final time in Clifton in September 2022

A spokesperson for the zoo said the history of the site was “important to us all”.

There are plans for the iconic zoo entrance building to be turned into a new Clifton Conservation Hub, which would host community spaces and a café with a permanent exhibition of the zoo’s history.

The spokesperson said: “Bristol Zoological Society has kept items to display here, including the most important Alfred death mask and the original Zookeepers' ‘Animal Bedtime’ Bell.”

They said the ongoing efforts of a small group of Clifton residents to stop a conservation and education charity from progressing with its future plans were “not only wasting vital funds, but they are preventing us from saving wildlife and building a new conservation zoo".

Mr Jones says they are taking legal advice over what action to take

The zoo spokesperson added that instead of investing vital charitable funds and saving threatened species, the zoo was instead having to defend legal claims, which was "extremely frustrating for all our staff and volunteers, who work so hard".

They also stated the current 12-acre site in Clifton was not fit for purpose as a modern, conservation zoo, adding: "We won’t give in to pressure from a small well-funded group of campaigners - who are not zoo experts and don’t understand animal welfare."

Mr Jones said to call the half-a-million visitors to the zoo each year, and the thousands who signed a petition to save it, “small” was “extremely disrespectful".

He added that although nothing was concrete at the moment, the shareholders were taking legal advice and considering legal action.

The auctions come as the zoo faces opposition to its plans to build 196 homes on the Clifton site.

In October, campaign group Save Bristol Gardens Alliance - a separate campaign group to the group of shareholders led by Mr Jones - won a legal challenge against the plans which will now be considered at a judicial review.

Mr Jones added that "life isn’t as simple as if you oppose plans to sell Bristol Zoo to become luxury housing, then you automatically oppose its conservation work as well".