Top 5 tracks you’ve been to (open or closed)

whitecity coventry wembley hove  hendon

City
Wembley
Don
Monmore
Hove

Shawfield (great memories)
Wishaw (flapping best ever)
Dundee (for novelty)
Harold's Cross (Real Dub track)
Dundalk (most winners)

Honourable mention Hall Green Bags on a sunny  morning. Couple of pints and pound bets just to watch hounds run. No pressure.

Catford
White City
Walthamstow
Reading
Wimbledon

1 Because it was home
2 No explanation needed
3 Ditto
4 Get On Blackie
5 Derby, Diamond Bar

Clapton ........Had the very best dogs with 4 Derby winners trained there in 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966. Very strong betting market.

Harringay
White City
Park Royal
Hackney.

Correction Derby winners were 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1966.

Yes the Great Adam Jackson as well , I never had the chance to go to Clapton ,Mr Jackson trained at both Wembley and The City at some stage,He was deffo at the City when I was Going , I don't remember him being at Wembley Was he there after the city closed ? Phil mentioned him Being there on RPTV

All these tracks and History ,as Malay says Shawfield a Decent track ,Sadly let to go in to Dis repair as the City was , I'm glad I managed to visit Shawfield

I think Adam Jackson started his career at Clapton and was there alongside Stan Gudgin, Bill Kelly, Jimmy Jowett, John Bassett and the great Paddy Keane. Some will recall Clapton as being the first track to introduce video replays in the 1960s.

https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/2019/01/31/london-clapton/

used to go in a ford popular your right about the video

white city
hove
wembley
shelbourne
coventry

Surprised the lack of love for Walthamstow! When the Stow closed that for me was the end of greyhound racing as I knew it. Wimbledon then soon followed and alas that was the end of Greyhound racing in London. Not old enough to remember White City. How is the Derby now at Towcester. Makes me want to cry everytime I think about it.

Walthamstow became popular in later years.  But in the 60s it was hard work with most races being 3/1 the field and many serious punters wouldn't go near it in those days.

Sparrow, never knew that about the Stow thank you for pointing out.

I went to University in London in 2000 and spent more time at the Stow than I did in lectures.

Will never forget the likes of Fire Height Dan, El Tenor, Druids Mickey Jo, Spiridon Louis (who I met at in the bar at Wimbledon one night lol, Gail May thank you what an owner) Droopys Zidane, Speenwood Wizard, El Hombre, Palace Issue and so many more great dogs.

Some good dogs mentioned there Ern. The thing is in the 60s London had so many tracks yet Walthamstow was always a classy place but the  big punters wouldn't play in most of those tightly graded affairs. I mostly went to Harringay Monday and Friday as well as Clapton on Thursday and Saturday, but in earlier times the 1950s my dad would take me to White City where he worked as a bookmakers clerk.

sparrow do you know if billy cook is still alive

Sorry mad dog but I never knew the man.

billy work for tony morris at wimbledon

I remember Tony Morris of course and once saw him taking 4 figure bets at Charlton dogs in the 60s and all tape recorded.

I knew tony morris and john humphries introduced the video replys at catford including supplying the televisions and cameraman with the previous meeting shown before the racing of the next meeting started but i did not realise Clapton were doing it in the 1960's......must have been state of the art then.....were they watched via televisions in the same manner....

On a television in each of the main bar/ cafeterias.  I would go half an hour before the races began to watch the previous meeting's races and on the night itself all races were shown straight after the finisn.

i also used to go early went to the cafe at the top of the road first you could not move in the betting ring

That was a good cafe mad dog on the corner of Chatsworth and Millfields roads. Do you remember Micky Black the outside man on the cheaper side for Dorras Brothers?  Fortunes changing hands from one ring to the other.

sorry cant remember him

He was the man doing the laying off in the cheaper ring under instructions from the main side and if you went in that ring during the 60s you would not forget him shouting at the bookmakers. A real character he was.

thanks for the information sparrow....strange how sometimes things taken for granted which have massive appeal and seem indestructable just disappear and are gone forever.....whether a result of mismanagement of the governing bodies or increased land values or government tax changes or social attitudes or indeed a mixture of all.....its still a shame...

Here's a full list of defunct greyhound racing tracks in London and when they opened and closed:
Battersea Greyhound Track: 1933 - 1936
Brixton Greyhound Stadium: 1932 -  before outbreak of WW2
Catford Stadium: 1932 - 2003
Charlton Stadium: 1930 - 1971
Clapton Stadium: 1928 - 1974
Dagenham Greyhound Stadium: 1939 - 1965
Edmonton Stadium: 1930's - 1947
Greenford Park: 1927 - 1928
Hackney Wick Stadium: 1932 - 1997
Harringay Stadium: 1927 - 1987
Hendon Greyhound Stadium: 1935 - 1972
Mitcham Stadium: 1936 - 1937
New Cross Stadium: 1900s - 1969
Park Royal Stadium: 1931 - 1969
Perry Hill Stadium: Early 1930s - 1935
Southall Greyhound Stadium: 1931 -1976
Stamford Bridge Stadium: 1937 - 1968
Temple Mills Stadium: 1933- 1949
Vicarage Road: 1928 - 1978
Walthamstow Stadium: 1933 - 2008
Wandsworth Stadium: 1933 - 1966
Wembley Stadium (Old): 1927 - 1998
West Ham Stadium: 1928  - 1972
White City Stadium: 1927 - 1984
Wimbledon Stadium: 1928 - 2018

The only track I hadn't heard of was Perry Hill.



Perry Hill Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Catford, London.

Origins
A small greyhound track existed off the east side of the Perry Hill Road (which goes north from Lower Sydenham towards Catford Bridge) at the end of Rubens Street.

In 1930 three fields made up the green space of the area, the African Banks Athletic Ground, the City of London School Athletic Ground and the Forest Hill Cricket Ground. One of these was described and was also known by locals as the 'Dog Field' and evidence points to the latter being the field in question.

History
The track opened in the early 1930s and was originally independent (unaffiliated to a governing body). In 1933 Mr Herbert Blann the co-manager of the track and residing in Rubens Street appeared in court to answer the allegations of using live rabbits to train greyhounds at Perry Hill, Forest Hill Greyhound Track.

It is probable that the management changed due to the fact that the track became affiliated to the British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS), an organisation formed to assist tracks wishing to race under regulations and a rival to the bigger National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC). In addition the track had basic tote facilities which also means that there were buildings on site although not necessarily substantial brick ones.

The track was issued a betting licence in February 1935 but the BGTCS disbanded in 1935 leaving the stadium unaffiliated.