Walthamstow Stadium To Close

Walthamstow Stadium, the premier greyhound racing stadium in the country, has been sold for redevelopment as housing. The stadium has been bought by a group consisting of two private developers and London & Quadrant Housing Association, who plan to build housing on the site.

However a consortium has been formed of businessmen who have put in a bid to the developers to buy back the stadium and keep greyhound racing going. Meetings between the consortium and the developers are likely to take place soon.

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, says that he hopes the stadium can be preserved. "The Walthamstow Stadium is one of the things which people recognise Walthamstow for" said Neil. "It is the biggest leisure venue in the area. It provides employment for over 400 local people, who will not find it easy to get other jobs. I used to be part owner of a greyhound which raced at Walthamstow, so I have been there many times. In the last few weeks I have been contacted by a huge number of people, local residents and also people from all over the country, who are saddened at the thought of the stadium closing.

I hope that it will be possible to negotiate the purchase of the site by the consortium who wish to keep racing going here. If that proves not to be possible then it is absolutely essential that every one of the racing dogs is re-homed. The Owners Association at the stadium has raised money for years to ensure that retired dogs are re-homed. The re-homing scheme here is, I think, the best in the country and should be a model for every other greyhound racing track."

For more information about the campaign to keep the stadium going visit the 'Save Our Stow' website. On this site you can also find videos of the meeting which took place outside the track recently.

There is also a petition which you can sign up to. Right click here and select 'Save Target As' to download the petition.

On Saturday 16th August a march will take place to highlight the support locally for the stadium. Details are on the 'Save Our Stow' website.

August 2008

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