World | UK
Famous greyhound stadium finally goes to the dogs
The finish line is looming for the greyhounds of Walthamstow Stadium.
- AP
- Published: 23:58 August 15, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Greyhound dogs race at Walthamstow dog track in east London on Thursday. The track, one of few left in London, is to close today following its sale for a residential development.
London: The finish line is looming for the greyhounds of Walthamstow Stadium.
Today sees the end for the 75-year-old temple to the archetypally British sport of greyhound racing. A London landmark famed for its heady atmosphere and huge pink-and-green neon sign, the track has been frequented by everyone from Winston Churchill to Brad Pitt. Now it is closing after the owners agreed to sell the site to developers.
New ways of gambling, animal-rights pressures and rising property prices in an area near the site of the 2012 Olympic Games have all contributed to the demise of the stadium, and the decline of this quintessential working-class sport. London once had more than 30 greyhound tracks; after today, there will be just three.
Heart of the community
"I'm sick... It's a terrible shame," said Barrie Clegg of the Walthamstow Owners' and Welfare Association, who has been coming to Walthamstow Stadium for more than 25 years.
"It is to Walthamstow what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. It's absolutely unique - the heart of the community."
Opened in a working-class east London neighbourhood in 1933 by a bookmaker named William Chandler, Walthamstow was one of the jewels in greyhound racing's crown, renowned for its stylish art-deco facade. The venue was later immortalised in photos featured on the sleeve of Blur's Parklife album, which had a cover shot of racing greyhounds.
Celebrity visitors over the years ranged from screen siren Lana Turner to Brad Pitt, who visited while filming the Guy Ritchie film Snatch. Employees included a teenage David Beckham, who collected glasses in the stadium's Paddock Grill. The London-born football star said yesterday that it was "a real shame to see it go."
"I always remember my time working at Walthamstow dogs, it was my first ever job and I was so happy to be getting a wage for the first time," said Beckham, a former England captain who now plays for LA Galaxy.
Greyhound racing first became popular in Britain in the 1920s. By the 1940s, an estimated 50 million Britons went "to the dogs" each year at more than 100 greyhound tracks. The British Greyhound Racing Board says more than three million people a year still do, but only 30 tracks remain.
After Walthamstow closes, only Wimbledon in south London and Crayford and Romford, on the city's fringes, will remain.
Popularity remains
Outside Britain, greyhound racing remains popular in Ireland, and in several US states - particularly Florida, home to almost a third of all US greyhound tracks.
But it retains an air of working-class Britishness, of smoky enclosures filled with men in cloth caps. That old-fashioned image may be part of the sport's problem.
Ironically, business has been booming at Walthamstow since it announced its closure a few months ago. The race meetings draw the usual middle-aged regulars, but also a smattering of smartly dressed businesspeople and large numbers of families.
Even young urban professionals have begun to see the attraction of watching skinny dogs race after a mechanical hare while dining on chicken and chips.
"It has been very popular in the last month or so, but that's because of the closure," said the stadium's marketing manager, Paul Wynn.
"But we lost half a million pounds (Dh3.3 million) last year. The directors decided they just couldn't keep it going."
There has also been growing concern for the welfare of the dogs. Animal-rights groups welcomed news of Walthamstow's closure.
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