10 replies to this topic

[willie campbell]

Hi,

does anyone remember the menagerie that was on the top floor in Lewis's department store in Argyle Street,and incredibly a zoo on the corner of Oswald Street and Argyle Street where if you followed the smell up one flight of stairs in a tenement building you came to a zoo housing a lion,monkeys,snakes and a whole mixture of other animals.It seems incredible now in retrospect that this would be allowed on health and safety grounds alone.

Willie.x.

[Pat]

Hi,

does anyone remember the menagerie that was on the top floor in Lewis's department store in Argyle Street,and incredibly a zoo on the corner of Oswald Street and Argyle Street where if you followed the smell up one flight of stairs in a tenement building you came to a zoo housing a lion,monkeys,snakes and a whole mixture of other animals.It seems incredible now in retrospect that this would be allowed on health and safety grounds alone.

Willie.x.

Sounds pretty amazing, Willie. I was never there. When was that?

[willie campbell]

Sounds pretty amazing, Willie. I was never there. When was that?

[willie campbell]

Hi Pat,

it was certainly there into the early 50s.I remember being taken there just the once.It was pretty smelly,and you came away feeling terribly sorry for the animals.Lewis's menagerie was different as the animals and birds were better cared for I think, and more pets than wild animals,

Willie.x.

[Hingmie]

Hi Pat,

it was certainly there into the early 50s.I remember being taken there just the once.It was pretty smelly,and you came away feeling terribly sorry for the animals.Lewis's menagerie was different as the animals and birds were better cared for I think, and more pets than wild animals,

Willie.x.

I remember in the early 70's a pet shop just as you entered under Central Station Bridge on Argyle St.,coming from the west that had an advert in the window directing you to the Oswald St Zoo. It seemed so improbable to me even as a teen that there would be a Zoo in the city centre, that I never investigated.

[willie campbell]

I remember in the early 70's a pet shop just as you entered under Central Station Bridge on Argyle St.,coming from the west that had an advert in the window directing you to the Oswald St Zoo. It seemed so improbable to me even as a teen that there would be a Zoo in the city centre, that I never investigated.

[willie campbell]

Hi,

I know what you mean.It just seems so improbable having a city centre zoo up a close in a tenement,

Willie.x.

[HollowHorn]

From 'Hidden Glasgow':
WILSON'S ZOO, 68-76 OSWALD STREET

The Wilson family operated a commercial zoo in Glasgow for many years. On Wednesday 23rd December, 1936, a 'miniature zoo' opened inside a disused church near Glasgow's Central Station, renovated and modernised for its new purpose. This replaced an earlier zoo under the railway arches in Argyle Street.

The Oswald Street establishment, owned by William Wilson and his son, housed a varied collection, including lions, a black panther, monkeys, a badger, parrots, macaws and a delightful mynah bird remembered for saying, "Where's the sawdust man?" in a broad Glaswegian accent. It was very popular and crowded, with two levels of cages and a pet shop in the basement. This zoo continued to operate until the 1950s. When it closed, the pet shop business moved just across the River Clyde to Carlton Place.

Wilson's Oswald Street Zoo opened only one week after the founding of the Zoological Society of Glasgow. It is possible these two events are linked in some way, although no documentary evidence has been found connecting them.

Can anyone pinpoint the location of the original zoo inside the disused church near Central Station?

The Oswald Street Wilson's Zoo was on the site now occupied by that hideous '60s office block with the RAC/BSM shop at its ground floor level. If I remember correctly the entrance was above ground floor level and was accessed via a staircase on either side. My father once told me it was popular with guys who used to stagger in after the pubs shut at 2.30pm. They would then proceed to take the piss out of the unfortunate exhibits until the pubs re-opened at five.

In 1936 the old St Peter's was converted to a zoo by the Wilson family, which had previously kept a zoo under the railway arches in Argyle Street. Wilson's Zoo became very popular, offering a pet shop in the basement as well as cages on two floors containing diverse animals such as tightrope-walking lions and lionesses which performed twice a day; a black panther; monkeys; a badger; parrots; macaws and a mynah bird which spoke in a Glaswegian accent. The zoo closed in the 1950s and the building was later demolished.

See here for more

[rory]

That is great information Hollowhorn. Glasgow is a fascinating city with many treasures and quirks.

[willie campbell]

From 'Hidden Glasgow':
WILSON'S ZOO, 68-76 OSWALD STREET












See here for more

[willie campbell]

Thanks for all that info.The premises I was taken too by Aunty Frances were in what is now that 1960s monstrosity.As you went up the stairs you could here that poor old lion roar,and you always knew when you were getting near the zoo as the smell wafted down Oswald Street and gave you the dry boak.All the animals looked tired and pale,even the black panther,and should really never have been there in the first place.
There was also a menagerie on topfloor of Lewis¨s in Argyle Street,where you could visit and pet the animals..no lions or panthers of course,but guinea pigs etc.who looked thoroughly fed up with all the attention and just wanted a kip,particularly those nocturnal hamsters who would give you a nip for interrupting their zzzzzs.