Hendon Greyhound 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. Tr ...

stadium in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Origins

The area of Hendon famously has special links to greyhound racing based on the fact that on the 6 March 1876 the first attempt at mechanical racing took place on a 400 yards long straight course near the Welsh Harp in the London suburb of Hendon. This was fourteen years before the patent for circular tracks had been taken out and fifty years before the first oval race was held at

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League ...

. During 1934 an attempt to start racing greyhounds around the Hendon Cricket ground failed after the owners of the ground, the Wearmouth Coal Company Ltd rejected the proposal. One year later in 1935 a stadium had been constructed on spare land between the

River Brent The River Brent is a river in west and northwest London, England, and a tributary of the River Thames. in length, it rises in the Borough of Barnet and flows in a generally south-west direction before joining the Tideway stretch of the Thame ...

and the relatively new

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

directly east of the main London, Midland and Scottish railway line.

Opening

The opening meeting was on 5 March 1935 with the stadium consisting of one main grandstand building along the home straight and a capacity of 6,000 spectators. The hare system used was an 'Outside Sumner' with a track circumference of 398 yards grass course with sharp bends.

History

Owned by Hendon Stadium Ltd the

totalisator A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...

turnover figures peaked at £2 million. Main events included the Calcutta Cup and Welsh Harp Cup. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Hendon and

Hackney Wick Stadium Hackney Wick Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located at Waterden Road in the London Borough of Hackney. Origins The site chosen for the stadium was on land known as Hackney Marshes west of the River Lea and on the west sid ...

merged to become the Hackney and Hendon Greyhounds Ltd company. The resident kennels featured six ranges with each able to house up to fifty greyhounds, paddocks sat next to each range with cooking facilities and a veterinary surgeon on site. The kennel fees were 17s 6d for each greyhound. In the 1950s Mr D G Lewis became the Racing Manager followed by Fred Whitehead becoming the Director of Racing for Hendon and Hackney. Lewis would switch to sister track Hackney with Michael Marks brought in to replace him. The pair would once again swap places in the 1960s sixties with Lewis returning to Hendon. During the 1960s racing continued on two evenings per week (Monday and Saturday at 7.45pm) and amenities included a restaurant and five additional buffet and licensed bars with principal events called the North Circular Marathon, Burletta Stakes and L.V. Chairman's Cup. A major event arrived in 1969 after Hendon was awarded the Guineas following the closure of

Park Royal Stadium Park Royal Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in London used from 1931 until 1969. It is not to be confused with the Park Royal Ground built in 1907 by the Great Western Railway and used by Queens Park Rangers F.C. from 1907 to 191 ...

. With the end of Park Royal and

New Cross Stadium New Cross Stadium, Hornshay Street, Old Kent Road, in South East London was opened in the early 1900s as an athletic stadium but was mainly used for greyhound racing and speedway. The ground was adjacent to The Old Den, the then home of Millw ...

their Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service (BAGS) fixtures were replaced by Hendon and Hackney. Attached trainers included Annetts, Reg Bosley, Colebrooke, Paddy Gordon, Hedley and Lionel Maxen, the same group of trainers that supplied the Hackney greyhounds.

Closure

In 1970 businessman

George Walker George Walker may refer to: Arts and letters * George Walker (chess player) (1803–1879), English chess player and writer *George Walker (composer) (1922–2018), American composer * George Walker (illustrator) (1781–1856), author of ''The Co ...

brother of boxing champion Billy Walker arranged a reverse takeover of Hackney and Hendon Greyhounds Stadium Ltd. This meant his private company bought a public company and the new merger resulted in a new company called Brent Walker. This resulted in the end for the Hendon Greyhound Stadium because it was sold to make way for the UK's first stand-alone shopping centre on the site that would soon be known as the Brent Cross shopping centre. The stadium finally closed on 30 June 1972, it was demolished with some of the land forming the new links to the M1 motorway and the rest being used as parking spaces for the shopping centre.

Competitions

Guineas

Track records

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct greyhound racing venues in London Greyhound racing in London 1935 establishments in England 1972 disestablishments in England Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues completed in 1935 Sports venues demolished in 1972