Borough Park was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

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 ...

stadium on Princess Street in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

Origins

In 1963 a new home was built for the

Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, that played in the Rugby Football League from 1954 until 1993. The club moved to Wigan in 1987 and was renamed Springfield Borough; to Chorley in 1988 and was ...

rugby league team between Princess Street to the north and Rigby Road to the south next to a gas works.

Rugby league

Rugby league was held at the stadium from 1963 until 1987.

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing arrived on 28 April 1967 with the racing being independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club). The track hosted one of the biggest independent races in the country called the Blackpool Derby and the seaside track ran every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening with an additional fixture on Saturday evenings during summer. The track had an 'Outside Sumner' hare system and fourteen bookmakers on course. In 1968 new American type lighting was installed at the cost of £5,000 and one year later a new totalisator was installed. By the late 1980s race distances were 250, 593 and 765 metres on a 363 metres circumference circuit.

Closure

The greyhound racing ended on Friday 28 November 1997 following an agreement between track directors Michael and Suzanne Boyle and the Stockport developers Penrith Limited. Many of the track's trainers switched to Westhoughton Greyhound Track. The stadium was subsequently demolished by the council to make way for a cinema complex.

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct rugby union venues in England Defunct rugby league venues in England Sports venues completed in 1963 1963 establishments in England 1997 disestablishments in England