Why was walthamstow stadium built

Being a bookmaker by trade, Chandler ensured that there were plenty of places to put a bet on, allowing sixteen different tote buildings. Alongside trying to make Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium the best in the business, Chandler also understood the importance of it becoming officially licensed. He worked hard to make that happen, seeing it host races under the rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club for the first time in It introduced its own competition, The Test, three years later.

Walthamstow was also unique in the world of racing because of the fact that several female trainers were hired. This was largely inspired by Frances Chandler, the daughter-in-law of William and a leading greyhound owner in her own right. That was headline grabbing, but it was the victory of Ballynennan Moon in the Stewards Cup in that really grabbed the attention. Whilst greyhound racing was undoubtedly the main attraction at Walthamstow Stadium, there was a different type of racing that took place there from time to time.

Speedway races happened for the first time in , but it was in that it truly began to take over. As a result, the Lea Bridge speedway riders had nowhere to go, transferring to Walthamstow Stadium.

There were problems with the lighting, causing trouble for the riders. Eventually the club was forced to move once more because of noise complaints. He was beginning his re-election campaign, using the famous venue to do so. The year after saw everyone involved with Walthamstow Stadium in mourning when William Chandler passed away.

His children were left equal shares of the business, meaning that the Chandler family continued to run the stadium. The track was proven to be a massive part of the British greyhound scene when it provided the English Greyhound Derby finalist for the first time in The stadium also provided another piece of bookmaking history when Joe Coral, the founder of Coral bookmakers, had a pitch there before opening betting offices of his own in the s.

From until , the venue was also used for stock car racing. There is also the creation of community facilities including a bright and lively designed play area and walkway in the centre of the development. Total Protection laid the colourful and creative numbers to the main walkway including the rubber crumb surfacing inside the play area. For the latest news on FeRFA, its members and the industry. Instarmac Group plc are celebrating after landing an internationally recognised award for demonstrating high health and safety standards for the […].

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If you would like to receive our e-newsletter and get all the latest updates, please enter your details below. FeRFA will not disclose your details to any third party. This was your sport; unlike horseracing, it was not the property of the remote and rarefied elite. It belonged to the people who supported it, and who loved it to the point of madness. His sharp brain took him to the position of number-one bookmaker at White City, and he became a director of Hackney's track whose site will form part of the venue for the Olympics.

The Chandler family ran the stadium all its life. I loved to spend the evening with them in the Paddock Grill restaurant where local boy David Beckham used to collect the glasses and was half in love with Frances, daughter-in-law of William, whose beauty was undiminished by age and who would tell me stories of the stellar greyhounds that she had owned throughout the s.

I hadn't actually grown up with Walthamstow, although through my father - a big owner - I grew up with dog racing. His greyhounds were trained at White City and Harringay, and that was where I spent the nights of my childhood. White City was the totem: I still dream occasionally of its vast oval arena. When it was demolished in it was as though greyhound racing had lost its soul.

Its Derby final nights were magnificent. Walthamstow always had a different feel: gaudier, gutsier. Its catchment area was east London and Essex, and on a Saturday night things could get boisterous, but I never remember it turning nasty. Dog men always seem comfortable with themselves. The only people who ever made me uneasy at Walthamstow were the city boys who used to go there in the early s, when greyhound racing was briefly voguish, to continue their day's trading by throwing money around on dogs.

They would get idiotically drunk and become very patronising. Once I ran into a man whom I'd known at university. I remember that this brief meeting made me oddly sad. Dog racing may be tough but it has a sweet sincerity at its heart.

And it suddenly seemed so vulnerable, adrift. While Walthamstow survived and thrived, the forces of modernity were kept at bay. I last went there about five years ago, for a fundraising evening for the retired greyhounds.