Belle Vue is an area of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, east of the city centre, bordered by the Hope Valley Line on the east and the

Glossop Line The Glossop line is a railway line connecting the city of Manchester with the towns of Hadfield and Glossop in Derbyshire, England. Passenger services on the line are operated by Northern Trains. The line is the surviving section west of the ...

on the west. Belle Vue is part of the electoral ward of

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west. ...

. Belle Vue railway station lies on the Hope Valley Line. In 1897, the

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All m ...

manufacturer Kendall and Gent opened the Victoria Works. The company closed down in the late 1960s. The area is best known for the former

Belle Vue Zoological Gardens Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, opened in 1836. The brainchild of John Jennison, the gardens were initially intended to be an entert ...

and

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League t ...

. The zoo opened in 1836 and in the 1870s a small amusements area was added which developed into a major amusement park in the 20th century. It occupied a 96-acre site and at the height of its popularity attracted 2,000,000 visitors annually. In 1910 the Kings Hall was opened, housing

The Hallé The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It supports a choir, youth choir, youth training choir, children's choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasiona ...

for several years and hosting major concerts over the years. The zoo closed in September 1977 due to mounting debts. The amusement park remained open on summer weekends until 1980. The land was sold in 1982, and the site finally cleared in 1987.The Way We Were: Belle Vue - Showground of the world
''Manchester Evening News'' Belle Vue is currently home to the

National Basketball Performance Centre The National Basketball Performance Centre (NPBC) is a 2,000 capacity, three-court basketball arena located in Manchester, England. Background Construction on the £11m Belle Vue Sports Village, including the 2,000 seat FIBA-standard arena, b ...

, headquarters of

Basketball England Basketball England (BE, formally ''England Basketball'')Manchester Giants The Manchester Giants are a British professional basketball team based in Manchester, England. The franchise was established in 2011, and admitted to the top-tier British Basketball League in 2012. The team's formation was led by a consortium ...

, women's basketball team

Manchester Mystics The Manchester Met Mystics is a women's basketball team from Manchester, England, who compete in the Women's British Basketball League. The team play their home games at the National Basketball Centre. Honours WBBL Cup *Winners (1): 2016-17 ...

, and women's netball team

Manchester Thunder Manchester Thunder are an English netball team based in Manchester. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In 2005–06, Thunder were founding members of the league. They were Superleague champions in 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2022. ...

References

Belle Vue {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub