Wimbledon Stadium

Wimbledon Stadium
Map
Full nameWimbledon Greyhound Stadium
LocationPlough Lane, Wimbledon, London SW17 0BL, England
Coordinates51°25′52.91″N 0°11′12.01″W / 51.4313639°N 0.1866694°W / 51.4313639; -0.1866694
Construction
Opened19 May 1928; 96 years ago (1928-05-19)
Renovated1950s
Closed25 March 2017; 7 years ago (2017-03-25)
Demolished16 March 2018; 6 years ago (2018-03-16)

Wimbledon Stadium, also known as Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, was a greyhound racing track located in Wimbledon in southwest London, England.[1]

It also hosted stock car and other small circuit motor racing events, and until 2005 hosted motorcycle speedway.[2] The stadium hosted the English Greyhound Derby every year between 1985 and 2016.

Facing declining attendances and with no renovations undertaken for many years, the stadium was put up for sale by the owners, the Greyhound Racing Association, and closed permanently in March 2017. The site was purchased by Galliard Homes Limited,[3] in order to build 600 new apartments and a new football stadium, the new Plough Lane, for AFC Wimbledon.[4][5] The stadium was demolished in 2018 to clear the site for the new development; it was one of London's last remaining greyhound stadia, leaving only Crayford and Romford remaining, and was the third to close since the year 2000 after Catford in 2003 and Walthamstow in 2008.[6]

  1. ^ "Track Search". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  2. ^ Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN 0-7524-2210-3
  3. ^ "A farewell to Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, London's last dog track". London Evening Standard. 24 March 2017.
  4. ^ "AFC Wimbledon stadium will be 'the end of greyhound racing', but the sport will fight Plough Lane plans". Wimbledon Guardian.
  5. ^ "Underdog eat underdog: the victims of football's greatest fairytale". The Guardian. 27 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Here's what happened to all of the greyhound racing tracks in London". 18 June 2020.