Woburn Dolphinarium: 1972 - 1983

BACKGROUND

Woburn dolphinarium was one of a number of dolphinariums constructed and operated by Entam  (Trust Houses Forte Leisure). Etam's original dolphinarium was opened in 1972 in the Welsh seaside town of Rhyl. Later that year it opened a dolphinarium at the Knowsley Safari Park and Woburn Wild Animal Kingdom.

Whipsnade Zoo - Zoological Society of London: 1972 - 1988

 

BACKGROUND

Whipsnade dolphin exhibit was constructed in 1972 as The Water Mammal Exhibit and displayed bottle-nosed dolphins. It was designed by the then curator veterinarian Victor Manton. The original concept was that the exhibit would first be an experimental facility that would later be expanded with the aims of a dolphin research and breeding center.

Windsor Safari Park: 1970 - 1992

BACKGROUND

The the park was founded in 1969 by the Billy Smart's circus family who opened the dolphinarium in 1970. The park was sold by Smarts in 1977 and had various owners until it closed in October 1992. The dolphins were relocated to Harderwijk Marine Mammal Park in The Netherlands. 

Durley Chine and Weymouth Dolphinariums: 1970 - 1971

The photograph on the front page of the souvenir programme was taken at
the Queen Hotel Dolphinarium in Margate, Kent,

In 1970 a dolphinarium was constructed located on Durley Chine, Bournemouth and operated by a company called Orca International Ltd. The show listed four dolphins on display: Chipper, Mickey, Adonis and Nero. The show producer, compere and director of training was Douglas Muir with Godren Panitzke also credited as a trainer. The show ran for one season.

West Midlands Safari Park Dolphinarium: 1976

Queen's Entertainment Centre, Cliftonville, Margate operated this seasonal dolphinarium which  only ran for one season in 1976. One of the dolphins was Speedy who was one of the original dolphins imported at the opening of Queens Hotel Dolphinarium.

South Elmsall Animal Training School And Dolphinarium : 1972 - 1974

BACKGROUND

The training school was a deused public swimming pool built in 1932. It was operated by Jervale Ltd a company owned by filtration engineer John Nolan and his wife. The pool was mainly used as a centre for holding and training dolphins from March 1972 until around 1974. See an article and picture from the Wakefield Express.

Southsea Dolphinarium - Portsmouth: 1972

BACKGROUND

Two dolphins Patsy and Lulu were transported from Flamingoland for this summer season show. The animals were then sold to Windsor Safari Park.

Southend Dolphinarium's - 1969 - 1975

The were in fact three facilities that displayed dolphins in Southend between 1969 and 1975.

Skegness Dolphinarium: 1972 - 1975

Aerial view of the Skegness dolphinarium which can be seen on the right-hand side as a  blue circle. This is now the site of the Skegness Aquarium.

BACKGROUND

Skegness dolphinarium was a summer season facility operated by the Queens Motel and Entertainment Ltd (Margate Dolphinarium) in conjunction with Skegness Urban Council. 

Scarborough Marineland & Zoo: 1969 - 1984

  

BACKGROUND

The zoo was developed by businessman Don Robinson who was also involved with Scotia Leisure the one time owners of Flamingo Park Zoo and it's satellite zoos. Scarborough also supplied dolphins for Blair Drummond Safari Park and had associations with the directors of Margate dolphinarium and supplied animals for one season at Gwrych Castle.

During two winter seasons it supplied dolphins for shows in swimming pools in Bolton and Belfast.

Sandown Dolphinarium - Isle Of Wight

The dolphinariums at Sandown and Brean Down were both operated by Ted Cowell with all but one of the animals supplied by Aquatic Mammal Enterprises. Sandown was a converted swimming pool located at the Blue Lagoon area of Sandown sea-front.

Royalty Folies - London- 1974

BACKGROUND
 

The Royalty Folies (later to be renamed The Great International Nude Show) was staged at the Royalty Theatre London in Holborn by Paul Raymond owner of the then famous Raymond's Review Bar. The animals were house in 10,000 gallon tank which weighed 65 tones. The two dolphins were called "Pixie" and "Penny" and they remain at the theatre for the 12 week run of the show from April to June in 1974. The animals were trained for the show over-winter at the Porthcawl Dolphinarium. They were relocated first to the dolphinarium at Woburn and then to the dolphinarium at Flamingo Park Zoo in Yorkshire. The show closed due to financial loss and not due to adverse criticism cited below in A Review of Dolphinaria.

Rhyl Dolphinarium: 1972 - 1974

BACKGROUND

The dolphinarium opened in June 1972 and was located in the Ocean Beach Fun Fair on the West Parade. Animals from Rhyl where over-wintered at Knowsley Safari Park Dolphinarium.

In Colin Jones 'Rhyl Life' blog it is noted that the dolphin pool still remained under the floor of the Breaks Snooker Club and Sports Bar until this venue was closed and then demolished in 2017.

 

 

Porthcawl Dolphinarium: 1971 - 1974

BACKGROUND

The dolphinarium was sited at the Coney Beach Pleasure Park, Porthcawl, South Wales and originally built and owned by Joe Raber's company Marine Mammals International. The last two dolphins to be housed there were in the winter of 1974 undergoing training for the Royalty Folies show in London.  The dolphinarium was then used for sea lion shows by Jervale Ltd in the summer of 1975.

Ocean Park - Seaburn - Sunderland: 1973 - 1975

BACKGROUND

This site was built and developed by local fair owner John Colins and animals supplied in partnership with Jervale Ltd, a company that from 1975 until early 1977 operated the dolphinarium at Flamingo Park Zoo. The dolphin pool was a seasonal outside facility with animals displayed returning to Flamingo Park during the winter. The dolphin display appears to have only operated for no more than two summers, starting in 1973.

The attraction was later taken over by animal trainer Martin Lacey, who owned the Great British Circus and renamed Zoo World before it closed.  The site was redeveloped as a supermarket.


A news article on the Ocean Park and it history and a possible documentary film can be found HERE.

PHOTOGRAPHS

 

Seaburn Zoo Ocean Park from Sunderland In Pictures on Facebook

 

Queen's Motel Dolphinarium: Margate: 1969 - 1977

BACKGROUND

The dolpharium was owned by Louis Holloway and Keith Franklin and situated in the converted swimming pool of a former Butlin's Hotel, which became an entertainment complex and motel. As well as the dolphinarium at Cliftonville, the company Queens Entertainments Ltd also ran a number of seasonal dolphinariums at Skegness, Southend-on-Sea and West Midland Safari Park; for one season in 1971, the company presented a show at Salonika in Greece.

London Dolphinarium: 1971 -

BACKGROUND

Opening on 1 April 1971, the London Dolphinarium was located at 65 Oxford Street in London and owned by the Pleasurama Leisure Group. The construction of this facility was estimated to be £200,000.  At that time, the company also owned Marineland in Mallorca and a temporary dolphin holding and training pool located in the Pleasurama's Amusement Park at Ramsgate. In December 2012, 65 Oxford Street and some of the remaining infrastructure from the original dolphinarium were demolished for redevelopment.

Knowsley Safari Park Dolphinarium: 1972 - 1985

BACKGROUND

 
Knowsley dolphinarium was one of a number of dolphinariums constructed and operated by Entam (Trust Houses Forte Leisure).

Gwrych Castle: 1970

BACKGROUND

Scotia Investments, who at that time owned Flamingo Park and various other attractions, had a small seasonal dolphin pool sited at the castle, which was located at St Asaph in North Wales for one summer in the early nineteen seventies.

In 2018, the castle and estate were purchased by Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust. Work is now underway to restore the castle and estate.  In 2020 and 2021, it provided a home for the television show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out.

A Review of Dolphinaria states: 

North Wales - near St Asaph. Owner: Scotia (Flamingo). Open: about 1970 for one or possibly two summers. Dolphins: from Flamingo. The free-standing, plastic lined, portable tank was said to leak, leaving the animals stranded. There were also said to be major filtration problems. Trainers: Mr B. Lyle and Ms D. Lyle.

 

 

The Dolphinaria Archive are very grateful to Jack Coldicott who kindly supplied these photographs.

Flamingoland: 1963 - 1993

BACKGROUND

 
Flamingo Park opened on 28th June 1961 by Pentland Hick as The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens. In 1963, it was the first to display cetaceans in the UK, followed closely by Marineland Morecambe. The original dolphin pool was a small figure of eight facility in the reptile house. As well as bottlenosed dolphins, other whales were imported, including a young white whale in 1964 and a young pilot whale in 1966. In 1965, Hick decided to float the zoo on the UK Stock Exchange, and it became Associated Pleasure Parks. The success for the pioneering dolphin exhibits was due to the insight of the zoo professional Reg Bloom, who later was involved in similar developments at Windsor Safari Park, London Dolphinarium and Clacton Pier.

Dudley Zoo - Dolphins & Whales: 1971 - 1974

BACKGROUND

Dudley Zoo spent a period of time owned by Scotia Leisure, who also at that time owned Flamingo Park. The dolphin and whale pools were modified sea lion pools.  The walls being built to create more depth.

However, these plans fell foul of the local planning laws and the zoo was ordered to return the pools to their original state. The converted sea lion pools were in fact part of a number of listed buildings at the zoo designed by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton group between 1936 and 1937. Lubetkin - Tecton were also the designers of the London Zoo penguin pool.

The above schematic is of the original design for the sea lion pools at Dudley Zoo courtesy of the web site of The Conservation of Tecton Buildings group.

As the zoo was not prepared to invest in new purpose built pools, the whale 'Cuddles' was put up for sale. Sadly, the whale died on 6 February 1974 before being remove because of a long-term gastro-intestinal problem. The pools were returned to their original design and now house sea lions.

 

The Google map below shows the two pools. The whale pool was on the right-hand side.

A Review of Dolphinaria states:

The outdoor whale and dolphin pools were adapted from sea-lion pools in the castle moat. The roughly pear-shaped whale pool was about 15.24 x 6.1-10.67 x 3.66 m deep and the adjoining dolphin pool larger, but shallower, only one part being 3.05 m deep. The dolphins wintered at Flamingo; the killer whale may have remained. Dolphins may have been present in 1975. The female bottlenose dolphin, Winkie, from Scarborough was to have performed at the opening, but she died earlier at Scarborough.

PHOTOGRAPHS   

 

 

 

 

 

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