It’s fascinating to ponder what today’s health and safety inspectors would make of Southend’s animal attractions during the interwar years.

Eyebrows would most certainly have been raised by the sight of George “Tornado” Smith’s Wall of Death attraction at Kursaal amusement park, not least because his pet lioness, Briton, used to ride with him. “He used to take his lioness in the sidecar - can you imagine them doing that now?” wondered Southend historian Ian Yearsley.

The Kursaal also had a zoo, which started up in 1916 and ran until the start of the Second World War. At a time when foreign holidays were a distant dream, visitors would flock to the zoo to see bears, tigers, wolves, panthers, hyenas, and llamas, which came from a collection supplied by Mr Tyrritt Drake of Maidstone. “They all had to be euthanised at the outbreak of war due to the enormous amount of meat they were consuming,” said James Straight, a 54 year-old history enthusiast.

Sparked by fond memories of family holidays spent in Southend in the 1970s, Mr Straight, an account manager who lives in Bournemouth, has recently been undertaking research into the history of the town’s animal attractions. “Bournemouth is a place favoured by the older generation, and to come to Southend - a lively place with bright lights and a golden mile - was amazing,” he recalled. “I was always particularly fascinated by Southend’s animal attractions.”

Somewhat bizarrely, between 1969 and 1971, the town was home to not one but three dolphinariums – one under the dome at the Kursaal (which closed in 1970 so its dolphins, Sinbad and Sally, could perform a tour of Germany), another at the old seafront pool in Westcliff, and another just east of the pier, which was known as Southend Dolphinarium. “It was pretty ramshackle, with racked seating arranged on both sides of a small pool,” Mr Straight recalled. “In those days dolphins weren`t commonly shown in the UK and to me it seemed very exotic, I couldn`t believe how big they were and how they were able to leap out of out of the water. I don`t think it ran for very long and ended up being abandoned.”

Mr Straight’s favourite attraction was the tiny zoo, “probably a bit bigger than a cricket pavilion,” which was part of Peter Pan’s Playground on the Western Esplanade.

“The animals were housed permanently indoors and there was no natural light. There were cages all round the walls and small cages down the middle for petting animals. At the far end, there were two small cages with heavy bars, one housing a sun bear and a lioness. I heard at one time there was a pair of lions. There was no natural light, so goodness knows what happened at night when the place was closed. I can remember down running there every year to see what new animals they had.”

Canvey Island resident Marten Hibbs recalled a man on pier hill with a little monkey during the summers of the early eighties. “You could have your photo taken with the monkey,” he said.

Perhaps the most controversial of all Southend’s animal attractions was Lulu, a Himalayan black bear who lived in Chalkwell Park in the 1970s. “Lulu sat forlornly in her tiny cage, I don`t think she could actually stand to reach her full height, she was very large,” said Mr Straight. “A large funfair came to that park each year, so it would have been very noisy and could have caused her distress.”

Brian Head, of Canvey, recalled seeing Lulu when he was a maintenance worker at the park. “It was sad to see her on her own, the cage never seemed big enough to me. In my view animal’s should be free.”

Chalkwell Park was also home to chimpanzees, reptiles and birds, including most recently a collection of caged peacocks. But following a campaign by residents, the peacocks have recently been rehoused to a 24-acre private estate. “We can all take comfort that they are moving to a bigger home where they will have plenty of room to spread their wings and roam freely,” said Southend’s deputy mayor Ann Holland.

The Pink Toothbrush nightclub in Rayleigh used to be called Crocs. This was because it was home to two live “crocodiles” which were displayed in a cage.

They were eventually found a new home at Colchester Zoo, where keepers discovered that they were in fact alligators.