Zoo Memories Trail: Entrance • Paignton Zoo

Gateway to nature

The current zoo entrance opened in 1996 as part of a site-wide redevelopment that transformed Paignton Zoo. The old entrance building can still be seen by the traffic lights on the main road and is now used as a storeroom. On opening day in 1923, entrance to the Torbay Zoological Gardens, as it was then known, was 1 shilling for adults and sixpence for children.

zoo entrance c1930 — ^{The original entrance to Primley Zoological Gardens in the 1920s.}

primley zoo entrance 1941 — ^{The 1941 entrance to Primley Zoological Gardens could be recognised by its metal archway.}

zoo entrance 1950s — ^{In the 1950s, the zoo entrance had seen a refurbishment.}

^{Visitors to Paignton Zoo in the 1980s would remember this entrance.}

zoo entrance with tropical house in background — ^{In 1991, the Herbert Whitley Trust was renamed Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, which was reflected in the entrance signage.}