An account book now held at the M Shed lists the attractions of St James' Fair, one of which is the exhibition of wild beasts. Market stalls and theatrical booths were erected in the church and churchyard but the adjacent streets also accommodated kiosks and caravans. A newpaper article of 1787 reports on one such 'commodious caravan' in Sims Alley, a small lane which once connected Broadmead and the Horsefair, approximately on the site of The Arcade today. The caravan  exhibited ‘that uncommon animal the Wanderoo, or Child of the Sun, the horned Owl [...] the stupendous PELICAN of the Wilderness, the wondrous properties of which might well have commanded the greatest admiration of the Ancients. All these docile and sagacious birds are found in a solitary state, under the most burning part of the Torrid Zone [...] Providence has furnished them with a monstrous Pouch or Bag under the throat, of so elastic and capacious a quality’ as it might go without water for days.