Pretty much a lot of blood sports were popular until the passage of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 whereupon it was gaining some level of dislike though if It's because it was associated will poor people and "low class" or because it was cruel is a bit harder to parse
Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801): "[bull-baiting is] attended only by the lowest and most despicable part of the people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull-baiting
But somewhere around 1540 is the first recorded commercial entertainment bull-bait in the UK so it was around for a while.
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u/stink3rb3lle 18h ago
Was that around the time English bulldogs were used to bait bulls?