Business
Email
Print
Last Races
75-year-old greyhound-racing track closes in London to make way for development
AP Photo
Handlers present their dogs before a race at Walthamstow greyhound stadium in London.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: August 17, 2008
LONDON - The finish line has been looming for the greyhounds of Walthamstow Stadium, a London landmark frequented by everyone from Winston Churchill to Brad Pitt, and where David Beckham worked as a teenager.
Yesterday was closing day for the 75-year-old temple to the archetypal British sport of greyhound racing. Famous for its heady atmosphere and pink-and-green neon sign, the track's closing comes 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; now there will be just three.
"I'm sick as a pig. It's a terrible shame," said Barrie Clegg of the Walthamstow Owners' and Welfare Association, who has been coming to the 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 neighborhood in 1933 by a bookmaker named William Chandler, Walthamstow was one of the jewels in greyhound racing's crown, renowned for its art-deco facade. Walthamstow was later immortalized in photos featured on the sleeve of British rock band Blur's Parklife album, which had a cover shot of racing greyhounds.
Celebrity visitors over the years have ranged from screen siren Lana Turner to Brad Pitt, who visited while filming the Guy Ritchie film Snatch.
A teenage David Beckham was employed there, collecting glasses in the stadium's Paddock Grill.
Beckham, a London-born soccer star said Friday 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 L.A. Galaxy.
Greyhound racing first became popular in Britain in the 1920s. By the 1940s, about 50 million Britons went "to the dogs" each year at more than 100 greyhound tracks.
The British Greyhound Racing Board says that more than 3 million people a year still do, but now only 29 tracks will remain.
After Walthamstow's closing, only Wimbledon in south London and Crayford and Romford, on the city's fringes, remain in the capital.
Outside Britain, greyhound racing remains popular in Ireland, and in several U.S. states -- particularly Florida, home to almost a third of all U.S. 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, but it is also outdated.
Business has been booming at Walthamstow since it announced its impending closing a few months ago. The thrice-weekly race meetings draw the usual middle-aged regulars, but also a smattering of smartly dressed business people and many families.
Even young urban professionals have begun to see the attraction of watching skinny dogs chase a mechanical hare -- in races that last all of 30 seconds -- while dining on chicken and chips, the track's signature dish.
"It has been very popular in the last month or so, but that's because of the closure," said Paul Wynn, the stadium's marketing manager.
"But we lost half a million pounds ($900,000) last year. The directors decided they just couldn't keep it going."
The rise of late-hours betting shops and Internet gambling, along with changes in tax laws that favored onsite betting over off-track gambling, have all hit revenues. The stadium's location, near the future Olympic site in an area undergoing huge redevelopment, makes the land on which it stands increasingly valuable.
There has also been growing concern for the welfare of the dogs. Animal-rights groups welcomed news of Walthamstow's closing.
The dog owners' association says that many of the about 500 greyhounds at Walthamstow will move on to other tracks. The rest will be found homes in which to live out a peaceful retirement.
A group of supporters called Save Our Stow mounted a last-minute rescue bid for the stadium, backed by a consortium of business people. But the owners say the building's sale for a residential development is "a done deal."
Most of the structure will be razed, although the famous facade is protected by government heritage rules and must be preserved.
Whatever happens, backers of the sport insist that greyhound racing has a future.
"It's been a tough time for businesses, they've not had a great time of it," said Richard Hailer of the British Greyhound Racing Board.
"There's no question of the sport coming under threat,'' he said.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
Advertisement
