Highgate Stadium is a greyhound racing stadium in Nicholas Lane,

Goldthorpe Goldthorpe is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was anciently a small medieval farming village, Goldthorpe is recorded in the ''Domesday Boo ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

Origins

The stadium was constructed on the west side of Nicholas Lane and was surrounded entirely by three railway lines. The Highgate colliery was nearby to the east.

History

The area contained a strong mining community and attracted patronage from nearby

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and Barnsley. In the 1970s racing was held on Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons over 340 and 450 yards. It was an all-grass track and was described as a good galloping track with wide easy bends and an 'Inside Sumner' hare system. By the late 1980s the circumference was 440 metres with race distances of 260, 304, 414, 590 and 740 metres. The track was sand with racing on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. In 2008 the track was featured in a BBC documentary called 'The flapping track'. The official programme preview was listed as "''The story of South Yorkshire's Highgate Greyhound Stadium, which each week attracts a motley crowd of characters to the world of flapping - independent, unregulated greyhound racing''". Until March 2019 racing took place every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Facilities include a stadium cafe, a fully licensed bar and fast food area. It is one of only five independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) tracks remaining today. On 26 March 2019 the management of the stadium announced via their official Facebook page that greyhound racing at the stadium had been suspended for the foreseeable future due to a lack of entries from trainers aside from those who were long-term affiliated with the stadium.

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom