Thank you for your valued feedback and your continued support by being a member. In our 186 years we have evolved a huge amount and, as you say, have fewer larger species now due to a greater understanding of animal welfare needs. We have made the most of our 12 acres, with beautifully landscaped gardens, activities for families and ensuring that our animals have enclosures which are suitable for them and allow them to display their full ranges of behaviours in their homes. We didn't action planned price increases on tickets for 2021 and this years have been very small compared with previous years. We are always transparent about the animals you can expect to find here and, despite January's closure of Twilight World and Forest of Birds (which housed 19 species between them), we still have almost 300 species to discover. Beyond these exhibit closures, visitors will not see any notable differences before the Zoo closes in autumn 2022. You can find lots of information about what animals we have here and what to expect from your visit on our website. I do appreciate your concerns, but we genuinely still feel we are great value for money and would encourage people to visit our historic site whilst we are still here and make the most of visiting such a special place. All the proceeds from ticket sales and car parking go towards looking after our animals, maintaining our sites and our conservation projects around the world protecting wildlife. It's great that you are excited about the plans for the new zoo at the Wild Place site, it's set to be an amazing place for both visitors, animals and staff. The plans for which animals will be at the new site are well underway and careful consideration being given to our conservation aims and visitor experience. We look forward to sharing these in due course. When travelling by bus to the Wild Place site, getting the number 1 and stopping off at Catbrain Lane (so before the Mall) is best, then it is a short 10-15 minute walk on a safe pedestrian route to the entrance of Wild Place Project. You can see the map of the route by visiting the Wild Place Project website, in the 'Plan Your Visit' and 'Find Us' section. Ensuring increased capacity for car parking is also within the plans for the new site. Thanks again for your feedback and supporting us by being a member.

Thank you for your review! Our main mission at Bristol Zoological Society is to save wildlife together through research and working to protect species and habitats overseas, as well as educating our visitors during their day with us. We also want to give families a great day out! Although it's sad to see the Clifton site go, it's a great opportunity to expand and build a new Bristol Zoo at our Wild Place site - and many of our animals will be coming along for the move with us. I'm sorry however to hear you had a less satisfactory experience in the restaurant. You're right that it can get very busy in the summer months, and a lot of our visitors do choose to bring picnics to enjoy on the main lawn or around the site. I will however pass on your feedback to our catering team for their review; the restaurant, barbeque and other catering outlets are run by a separate company, so this sort of feedback is really important to us. Thanks again for your support, and I hope we see you again before we close in September!

Thank you for your feedback. I'm really glad that you enjoyed discovering all of our amazing animals in their exciting enclosures! Parking is limited and the £4.50 (£2.50 for members) goes towards our conservation projects and looking after our animals. On-street is £5 for 5 hours and there's plenty of it available. This is also free at weekends and bank holidays. There's also some spaces for free on the Downs during the week. I'm glad you managed to get a space in our car park. There is a lot of useful information on our website under the 'Visitor Information' section (clear tab for this at the top of the homepage) which has 'getting here' information as well as handy FAQs, site rules, catering information etc. The queue to get in moves very quickly and is to be expected during the summer holidays but apologies if this felt frustrating. We have plenty of takeaway options as well as The Hide Restaurant for eat-in. It's great that you were served quickly. We have outlets for ice cream as well as the vending machines, including The Hungry Monkey cafe and gift shop. We also have an ice cream van at busy times. All of the catering outlets are clearly indicated on the map with a knife and fork symbol. We are printing these in-house in black and white currently due to the regularity of changes implemented due to COVID-related measures but we are hoping to be able to have the colour versions re-introduced soon. Apologies if this made navigating unclear for you. Thank you for supporting us and our conservation work through your visit!

Thank you for your feedback. We have not yet relocated any of our animals over to the Wild Place site and do not intend to until we are closed to visitors at Bristol Zoo Gardens late 2022. There is still some movement of animals both to and from the site according to regular breeding programmes etc. but we still have over 300 species of animal onsite from gorillas, lions, meerkats and lemurs, to penguins, seals, flamingos and giant tortoises, so there is plenty to see. Our enclosures are well-maintained and animal welfare is of the highest priority. We ensure that each animal is in a space that closely mimics natural habitats and allows them to display their full range of behaviours in their homes. Nearly all of our enclosures have now reopened to visitors and you can find a full list of up-to-date closures on our website updates page. We are following government guidance and will reopen more as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. We did not implement planned price increases this year as a reflection of Covid restrictions in place. Bristol Zoo Gardens and Wild Place Project are both run by Bristol Zoological Society which is a conservation and education charity and relies on the generous support of the public not only to fund its important work at both zoos, but also its conservation work around the world. Thank you for supporting us through your visit!

Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry that we didn't have spaces left in our car parks when you arrived. During school holidays they are at capacity by 11am. There is a lot of on-street parking available in nearby streets £5 for 5 hours or free at weekends or bank holidays. We have lots of useful pre-visit information on our website - click the 'Visitor Information' tab at the top to access our 'getting here' page, as well as things like our 'FAQs', 'Site Rules' and catering information. We have still got capped numbers, though these increased during the latest government easing of restrictions, so our footfall has been considerably less even on our busiest days than pre-COVID summer days. We have over 200 species; 1,000's of individual's, so plenty to see and discover and no plans to move animals over to the new site until we close to the public at the Clifton site towards the end of next year. In order to safeguard our future following the catastrophic affect of the pandemic, we are selling the Clifton site and moving to the Wild Place site. This will be an exciting new experience for visitors and provide amazing spaces for our animals. Thank you for supporting us and our conservation work through your visit!

Thank you for your feedback. It's lovely that you describe our zoo as fantastic! We love our zoo and have lots of passionate and skillful individuals in our teams across the site. I am sorry that there was a queue for parking when you arrived. During peak times such as summer holidays this is very common, especially for popular morning slots. We do our best to park visitors up as quickly as possible and direct people to on-street parking if the car parks are full. Obviously we are bound by the road layout and geography of the site but I appreciate that this was not a smooth start to the day for you. On-street is also free at weekends and bank holidays and there tends to be plenty of spaces on surrounding streets. The day rate for our car parks is £4.50 so comparable with the £5 rate for on-street so a recommended alternative when busy. The average duration of a zoo visit is 2-3 hours so the 5 hour time limit for on-street should allow plenty of time to explore our zoo. I am sorry to hear that there was such a long wait for food, an hour seems unusually excessive even for our busiest times so I will be sure to pass on this feedback to catering managers. It has been a challenge adapting to all the changes through the months of the pandemic, whilst ensuring an excellent visitor experience and we are so thankful that we now have so much open within the zoo. We are always reviewing the way we do things and improving as we go, so welcome any ideas and suggestions our visitors have. Thank you for supporting us and our conservation work through your visit, it means a lot to us all.

Thank you for your feedback, and I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your visit to us. Although empty enclosures are sadly unavoidable in light of our impending closure in September, we still have a great number of species to see - as well as our well known gorilla group, which is often a highlight for many of our visitors, we also have our Asiatic lions, South American fur seals and colony of African penguins. The Hide Restaurant and other catering outlets around our site are run by an external company that also work with many other visitor attractions around the UK, and the prices are indicative of our competitors. However, I will pass on your feedback to the Catering Manager for their review. Thank you for supporting us with your visit; this not only helps the Zoo, but also supports our conservation projects around the globe.