Peter Dickinson
Well-Known Member
I noted today that Borth Animalarium is up for sale. Very few details available which are not helped by the fact that the website is down.
Borth Animalarium Borth For Sale
- Thread starter Peter Dickinson
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Peter Dickinson
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Where was it advertised?...I saw nothing, not even a mention. I nearly missed the ad I saw today in a May2010 Reptile Magazine.
Gentle Giant
Well-Known Member
It was in Cage and Aviary Birds last year, as it is difficult to sell in the current economic climate.
Peter Dickinson
Well-Known Member
Thank You Gentle Giant - rarely see a copy on the road.
Agree the price does seem steep, i remember when gatwick zoo was for sale about 9/10 years ago for £500,000 and that included a 5 bed house, and about 12 acres of zoo and enclosures including a tropical butterfly and bird house! as well as a collection of: -
B&W Ruffed Lemur
Ring Tailed Lemur
Columbian black Spider monkey
black capped capuchin
Squirell monkey
Cotton top tamarin
common marmoset
meerkat
asian short claw otters
humbolts penguin
wallaby both parma and bennets
muntjac
mara
as well as a fine collection of birds including emu, maribou stork, pygmy kingfisher, lilac breasted roller, snowy owl, eagle owl, 6 species of lorikeet, sacred and scarlet ibis, egret, kookabara, selection of cockatoo -molucan and sulphar crested, amazon parrots, macaws- military, b&y and scarlet, flamingo, crowned crane, various waterfowl, blyths hornbill, toucan, curassow, various pheasants, starlings, village weavers, barbet and cant remember the rest!
Was a nice little zoo though and had many free flying birds including rainbow lorikeet and had the shock of my life one time seeing some blue and gold macaws perching in a tree. They also had a flock of around 100 budgies at one time that would fly free (until the crows began picking them off!)
No one brought it however and is now the home of a crappy residential housing estate. Lets hope the same doesnt happen to borth!
If only i was a premiership footballer for a month!
B&W Ruffed Lemur
Ring Tailed Lemur
Columbian black Spider monkey
black capped capuchin
Squirell monkey
Cotton top tamarin
common marmoset
meerkat
asian short claw otters
humbolts penguin
wallaby both parma and bennets
muntjac
mara
as well as a fine collection of birds including emu, maribou stork, pygmy kingfisher, lilac breasted roller, snowy owl, eagle owl, 6 species of lorikeet, sacred and scarlet ibis, egret, kookabara, selection of cockatoo -molucan and sulphar crested, amazon parrots, macaws- military, b&y and scarlet, flamingo, crowned crane, various waterfowl, blyths hornbill, toucan, curassow, various pheasants, starlings, village weavers, barbet and cant remember the rest!
Was a nice little zoo though and had many free flying birds including rainbow lorikeet and had the shock of my life one time seeing some blue and gold macaws perching in a tree. They also had a flock of around 100 budgies at one time that would fly free (until the crows began picking them off!)
No one brought it however and is now the home of a crappy residential housing estate. Lets hope the same doesnt happen to borth!
If only i was a premiership footballer for a month!
Absolutely agree with that. Also given, by all accounts, it would need considerable further money to be expended to bring it up to "decent standards" I think it'd be cheaper to start a small collection from scratch. As my boss sometimes says, "if I want sugarless coffee and someone gives me coffee with sugar it's easier to make a new cup rather than trying to take the sugar out".
Sorry, I've got to diasgree with you Jacobea, I don't think the place has potential:
1. It's too expensively and costly to develop;
2. I don't think you could get sufficient visitor numbers to sustain it given the location (i.e. a long way from major population clumps).
Let's face it, if it were financially viable it's unlikley it would be for sale or would have been on the market as long as it has been.
Borth is not outside town at all, in fact it's just behind the train station, about 2 mins from the beach, and tbh would be a perfect site for a caravan site or holiday homes.
As for the zoo, it's not only expensive as it stands, but also it would need a lot of cash to sort it out.
It actually owns a lot more land than the zoo currently stands on, and could be a fantastic and rather large zoo if the right person was interested. However, would anyone pay nearly a million for a zoo that probably needs a second million spent on it? It would take a fair while for that to be earnt back.
Having said that, if anyone happens to know next weeks lottery numbers I'll gladly buy it with my winnings. I lived there for a few years (nearby, not actually in the zoo, that would be weird), and have so many ideas for the place.
But Isle of Wight is a lot more remote, as is Jersey, and both are better zoos with more visitors. Borth and the surrounding areas, Aberystwyth and Newquay in particular, are big holiday towns with tonnes of visitors every summer. Not to mention the student population of Aberystwyth, which has a large zoology department.
It can be taken as a day trip from the midlands if you fancied. Takes me 3 hours.
Borth is, AFAIK, the biggest animal collection in that part of Wales (since I'm not sure where Welsh Mountain is). Having been to Wales many times, my experiance is that to go to anywhere, be it the pub or a castle or a rabbit farm, we had to drive. I know if I had to drive from Aberystwyth to Bristol to see any exotic critters, I would soon get very, very sick of it.
And don't a lot of zoos start off with simple, 'boring' animals? Borth seems to have a few exotics (ocelots and the leopards. The price for the place is steep, I agree, but it's possible that a combined Manor House/ Dartmoor approach would help a little - fundraising for example, to improve and build enclosures, and getting the locals interested and involved.
Just as Devi says, with the local uni having a large zoology department, it might be possible to forge some sort of working partnership of some sort - if not finiancial, then educational at least. The close proximity to a train station could mean some sort of special "zoo ticket" being arranged to try and tempt holidayers from perhaps as far a field as Barmouth. Some space en-site could also be set aside for, say, local artists, to get them keen to support their zoo, which, if improved, could be at least a seasonal boost to the local economy.
So, not a dead loss IMHO, but certainly a challenge
And don't a lot of zoos start off with simple, 'boring' animals? Borth seems to have a few exotics (ocelots and the leopards. The price for the place is steep, I agree, but it's possible that a combined Manor House/ Dartmoor approach would help a little - fundraising for example, to improve and build enclosures, and getting the locals interested and involved.
Just as Devi says, with the local uni having a large zoology department, it might be possible to forge some sort of working partnership of some sort - if not finiancial, then educational at least. The close proximity to a train station could mean some sort of special "zoo ticket" being arranged to try and tempt holidayers from perhaps as far a field as Barmouth. Some space en-site could also be set aside for, say, local artists, to get them keen to support their zoo, which, if improved, could be at least a seasonal boost to the local economy.
So, not a dead loss IMHO, but certainly a challenge
Isle of Wight is not more remote. It has the populations of Southampton & Portsmouth nearby and is a well-established (and visited) holiday location.
Agreed, Jersey is more remote but historically had the "Durrell effect" and was a popular holiday location. As I understand both these factors have dimished significantly in recent years and the zoo is having to think long and hard about changes needed in the future.
According to a quick internet search (fallible I know) Aberystwyth's population is only around 30,000 which is quite tiny in the big scheme of things. Realistically that couldn't service that many holiday visitors. I'll accept that Newquay and the surrounding area (Cornwall) is a big holiday town but, unless there's been a tectonic shift I've missed, it's nowhere near Borth!
As I understand (again potentially dodgy internet surfing) about half the population, 15,000, are students. Again, that's miniscule in the big scheme of things.
Yes, but for any Joe Publics (who has to make up the majority of visitors) living in the Midlands there's so many other easier to get to, and far better, establishments accessible in less travel time (Dudley, WMSP, Twyross, Chester, Woburn, Whipsnade, etc).
I'm not being negative on purpose, just realistic -I don't think the location's viable (especially at the price wanted).
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I agree with the rest of your comments Shorts , but Newquay , West Wales , is a coastal village South of Aberystwyth - one of my favourite places to visit . It is notable for the Cardigan Bay Bottle-nosed Dolphins which can often be seen from the Harbour wall . It was also a haunt of the Welsh poet/alcoholic Dylan Thomas and , not surprisingly , has some good pubs . ( I tend to check out for Dolphins before going for a pint when I visit ) .
Getting to Newquay from Swansea is relatively easy but the drive from Newquay to Borth would take probably an hour at least .
I don't expect they will find a buyer any time soon.
For a million pounds I have absolutely no doubt that you could buy a piece of land in a more viable location and have superior facilities to those at Borth as well.
Unless the current owners change their mind about selling, it will eventually close. And going by the size of some of the enclosures, that's not a bad thing.
For a million pounds I have absolutely no doubt that you could buy a piece of land in a more viable location and have superior facilities to those at Borth as well.
Unless the current owners change their mind about selling, it will eventually close. And going by the size of some of the enclosures, that's not a bad thing.
The population of Ceredigion (which is where the zoo is, not Aberystwyth, that is a nearby town) was 74,941 on the 2001 census. To the south is Pembrokeshire with 114,131 and Carmarthenshire with 172,842, to the north is Gwynedd with 116,843. None of those counties have zoos, and I'm not entirely sure but I think Welsh Mountain would be closest?
The Isle of Wight has a population of 132,731.
Brynowen Caravan park is within walking distance, which is owned by park resorts and is full most of the season. There are 3 other caravan parks less than 10 minutes drive from the area. The entire road in front of the Animalarium site is made up of B&B's and hotels. The local area is packed with cottages. 10% of the population of Ceredigion work in tourism.
In addition, the trainline servicing Borth goes through a few other decent sized towns on the way.
With a good zoo people will travel, as you say, the Durrel effect, the zoo is so good people are willing to travel a long way to get there.
As I see Borth, it could be easily made into a zoo similar to Drusillas within a couple of years if some real investment was made into it.
I would agree that it isn't worth the money currently asked for, but it does have serious potential.
And thanks Bele for correcting about Newquay, it is indeed beautiful and rather popular for its Dolphin trips. I went there a while back but only found one porpoise, shame really, I should go back soon.
The Isle of Wight has a population of 132,731.
Brynowen Caravan park is within walking distance, which is owned by park resorts and is full most of the season. There are 3 other caravan parks less than 10 minutes drive from the area. The entire road in front of the Animalarium site is made up of B&B's and hotels. The local area is packed with cottages. 10% of the population of Ceredigion work in tourism.
In addition, the trainline servicing Borth goes through a few other decent sized towns on the way.
With a good zoo people will travel, as you say, the Durrel effect, the zoo is so good people are willing to travel a long way to get there.
As I see Borth, it could be easily made into a zoo similar to Drusillas within a couple of years if some real investment was made into it.
I would agree that it isn't worth the money currently asked for, but it does have serious potential.
And thanks Bele for correcting about Newquay, it is indeed beautiful and rather popular for its Dolphin trips. I went there a while back but only found one porpoise, shame really, I should go back soon.