ZSL London Zoo

Family of four travelled weekend 13th September 2008. Getting over the shock of paying £60.00 to get in (I know, I know...some of the money goes towards the undoubted good work of the society), I was shocked & saddened to see just how much the zoo looks tired, run down & decrepit. Not only have the elepahnts & rhinos gone (I admit to more spacious surroundings) but the rest? Tatyy with large parts of it closed for rennovation (the petting zoo) and others unoccupied as animals have been moved and as their former houses/pens are "listed buildings, there's not much the zoo can do to them".

We stopped for lunch - two sandwiches, two kids sandwich boxes, two coffees...not much change from £30.00...total rip-off.

Kids wanted to see the feeding of penguins...what an utter shambles - too many people, not enough room and, alas, too many adults pushing in front of the kids. Shameful...

All in all, a waste of money...the zoo should be closed down & the funds raised (however that might be) spent on conservation rather than passing this off as a major tourist attraction.

As a family we travelled to the zoo the day after we went to legoland.We thought it would be a nice day out after the day from hell at legoland.We left a little disappointed.

On the plus side as a disabled person we could park close by for no charge.A real treat in London,but on the down side the whole of the zoo is not wheelchair accessable,a fact they dont tell you at the gate.

The Zoo itself is very old,and the animals seemed very drowsy and like they didnt have enough room,especially the lions and tigers. There are lots of playareas and to be honest my 7 year old was much more interested in these than looking at the animals in their cages.

The food is very expensive £8.95 for a hot meal and £5.00 for a sandwich and i also found the staff quite rude in the main restaurant.

They also have rides and bouncy castles that cost extra so beware the day could cost more if you let you children go on these.(it was £3.00 to go on the bouncy castle).

We did stay the whole day but im not sure that i would go back again,in fact i felt very sad for the animals in their small cages especially the birds who just seemed to be flying around in circles over and over again.

In London for family occasion thought zoo would be good for children. Signposting non existent - thank you to nice man with pushchair otherwise we might be looking yet. Entrance queue dreadful - couldn't hear -looked around -everyone else had had to stick head through low opening. Upset at conditions forgorillas and tiger very distressed. Giraffes bored and zebras comatose. Food very poor - some of us were ill afterwards. Parts of the zoo very dirty. Not enough toilets. Was last there 25 years ago and it has got a lot worse. Very expensive day out and mixed feelings about taking small children - hope they don't think this is ok. If you feel you must go take your own food and water and make sure you have a map. Enjoyed the walk back through the park - lovely.