Stop 06 - Bristol Zoo Project and the old Clifton gardens
Stop 06: the old Bristol Zoo site at Clifton closed in 2022. The listed gardens are still walkable; the new Bristol Zoo Project is out of town but worth a day.
For 186 years, Bristol Zoo sat on its small, beloved, deeply old-fashioned site in Clifton. In September 2022 it closed, and the collection moved to a much larger site off Junction 17 of the M5, now called the Bristol Zoo Project. The old Clifton site is being redeveloped. For the circuit we still stop here, because the old zoo gardens are themselves listed and worth a walk, and because there is no honest way to write a Bristol guide that pretends the old zoo is still open.
What to see
At the old Clifton site, on College Road: the Grade II listed gardens remain walkable as a public park, and the surrounding streets are beautiful in their own right. The former entrance pavilion, the lodge and the lion-topped gate posts are protected. Look for the small memorial plaque to Alfred the Gorilla, who lived at the zoo from 1930 to 1948 and is now in the Bristol Museum.
At the Bristol Zoo Project (20 minutes by car or a 45-minute bus journey from the city centre): the new site is open, and covers 136 acres of conservation land. It is centred on a Central African Forest habitat - gorillas, cherry-crowned mangabeys, okapi - and a Bear Wood walk where brown bears, wolves, lynx and wolverine share a large enclosure. It is genuinely better than the old zoo, if less immediate.
How long to stay
- Old Clifton site: thirty minutes for the gardens walk. Combine with Stop 07 Clifton Village.
- Bristol Zoo Project: three to five hours. It needs its own day.
Nearby stops
- Stop 07 - Clifton Village is two minutes’ walk from the old gate.
- Stop 09 - Victoria Rooms is five minutes’ walk east.
- Stop 10 - City Museum and Art Gallery has the old zoo’s historic specimens.
Practical info
If you want to visit the Bristol Zoo Project itself, do not use the Insight Bus circuit - catch the number 3 from the city centre to Cribbs Causeway, or drive (ample parking, £5). It is well signposted from the M5 J17. For the old site’s gardens, the circuit works fine.
