Ellesmere Port Stadium was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

stadium on Thornton Road,

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

, in the Wirral,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England.

Origins

The track was constructed in the late 1960s, west of the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

and east of Cow Worth Grange and Thornton Road.

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing started on 29 February 1988 and the first race was won by Go Ben Go. The greyhound racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the r ...

) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. Racing took place on Monday and Saturday evenings. The track circumference was 410 yards, with original race distances of 310, 525, 650 and 710 yards. The hare system was an 'Inside Sumner' and the track had long straights and exceptionally wide bends. The main annual events were the Cheshire Oaks and Whitbread Open. Race distances were changed to 265 and 470 metres before the track underwent major renovation. In 2013, £170,000 was spent in upgrading the facilities of the 2,000-capacity stadium.

Speedway

Speedway took place from 1972 until 1982, and again in 1985.

Football

Football teams that played at the stadium included Ellesmere Port Town F.C., Ellesmere Port & Neston F.C. and

Colwyn Bay F.C. Colwyn Bay Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pel-Droed Bae Colwyn) is a football club based in Old Colwyn in north Wales. They are currently members of the Cymru North, the second tier of the Welsh football pyramid. Nicknamed the Seagulls, but also kn ...

Closure

The stadium closed in the spring of 2014 and in 2016 plans were passed to build 141 homes on the site.

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct football venues in England Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England Sport in Ellesmere Port