Poole Stadium

Greyhound racing was introduced to the stadium in 1960 after the Southampton Greyhound Stadium owners Charlie Knott Sr. & Charlie Knott Jr. initiated plans to construct a track around the football pitch and speedway track. Charlie Jr. The venue underwent considerable change with a grandstand and terracing being introduced on both sides of the stadium.[13]

On 8 May 1961 the opening meeting took place with the Mayor of Poole Alderman Bill Cole conducting the opening ceremony. There was an eight race card featuring five dogs in each race set up around a 380-yard circuit. The first ever winner was 'Count on Chippelgaun' a 5-1 shot in a time of 29.7 secs. The Racing Manager was aptly named D.J Poole before T.H.Pickett took over the hot seat.[14]

The Knott's remained involved in Poole until 1980 when they sold their interest in the stadium. The leading trainers were Rita Randall and Pat Clarke and Ernie Walsh became the new Racing Manager. Following the sale the greyhound operation ran into difficulties and on 1 January 1985 closed down before the racing was brought back by TGV Ltd headed by Terry Bentham on April 5 of the same year. Simon Cross took over as Racing Manager from Ernie Walsh and TGV Ltd took the opportunity to conduct some renovations. Cross was soon to be replaced by Geoff Lee. Scurlogue Champ appeared on 12 July 1986 and broke the track record.[15]

Facilities included a restaurant for 100 covers, a car park for 800 vehicles and two bars with all-sand circuit and an 'Outside Sumner' hare. Racing continued on Thursday and Saturday nights until the ownership changed again to a company called Playbell Ltd who then removed the greyhound track to accommodate a larger football pitch on 30 June 1990.[7][16]

In February 1992 hopes were revived that greyhound racing could return to Poole after plans were announced by the Derek Block owned Poole Stadium Development Corporation that they were looking to emulate a track such as Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium and Romford Greyhound Stadium. This sparked interest from the BS Group and they had discussions with the local authorities regarding the re-opening of Wimborne Road. Even the Greyhound Racing Association made it clear that they were monitoring the situation. The BS Group won the race and secured a long time lease from the Poole Borough Council in 1994 and racing finally returned with the football ceasing.[17] The owners constructed a modern glass fronted grandstand on the east side of the stadium in 1997 which incorporated a 312-seat restaurant, two bars, full Tote betting facilities and multiple viewing screens.[12]

The Golden Crest which had been hosted by the track since 2000 had become the principal event surpassing the significance of the tracks previous main feature competition 'The Wessex Vase'. A major boost for arrived in 2012 when the track was awarded a BAGS contract for the first time.

In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with ARC to race every Tuesday and Sunday evening.[18] In 2020, the stadium was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, following the easing of restrictions of the lockdown, Poole Stadium Ltd (under parent company Gaming International) decided not to re-open and later, on 5 August, announced it was under a consultation period with the staff with the possibility of redundancies and the end of the greyhound racing at the venue.[19][20]

On 22 September 2020 the permanent closure of greyhound racing at the site was announced leaving Gaming International with one remaining site at Swindon Stadium.[4]

• Golden Crest

Current

Former [25]