Belle Vue archive

From the 1830s to the 1980s Belle vue was extremely admired by the British public and was the ultimate holiday and day out for many families around the country. Belle vue gardens attracted a big population of the British public as it consisted of a magical, fantasy world that many of the people in that period of time had never experienced before. It had beautifully crafted exotic gardens, a very open magnificent zoo, three glamorous ballrooms, lively thrilling fireworks display, a variety of exciting competitive sports entertainment and also heart racing rollercoasters. Now Belle vue no longer exists and is known as a hidden part of Manchester's heritage. These images contain the different entertainment Belle vue included of, for example the Chinese inspired restaurant, the exotic animals, the mystical circus and the thrilling rollercoaster. After hearing about Belle vue's history from archives Claire Turner and Michael Powell, they have inspired me to research into the circus entertainment side of the fairground as I am very curious of what were the performers costumes like and if the animals were included in the acts would they wear costumes too? Another area of the fairground that inspires and interests me is the variety of foreign cultures that was portrayed in parts of the fairground for example why did they have a Chinese decorated restaurant and how did they create that foreign atmosphere? 3 Images from 'Looking back at Belle vue Manchester (book), Robert Nicholls', The Bobs rollercoaster image from https://www.facebook.com/groups/BBBelleVue/?fref=ts

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