BARRY

Jenner Park, Barry Road, Barry, South Glamorgan, South Wales.

POSTCODE———————————-CF62 9BG

LOCATED————————————The resort of Barry Island is found abput eight miles south west of Cardiff. The venue is situated just over a mile north east of Barry town centre.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Open land known as Barry Dock.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1912

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-1912
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————–September 3rd 1932.
Greyhound Racing only.

LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-Independent
All venues covered would have to be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refer to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——Don’t know.
Please note that the Electric Hare suggested is only a guidance and would have been in operation for a certain amount of time at this venue. Although it is not necessarily guaranteed that it was operational all the time, as other types of lure may have been used and updated as time progressed.

DISTANCES———————————–Don’t know.
Please note that most racing venues distances had become varied throughout the years, the ones given above were at once point set and offers only a guidance to the track size.

CIRCUMFERENCE————————–Don’t know.
Please note that alterations at most racing venues throughout its existence would see that the circumference of the track would vary, the one shown above offers only a guidance to the track size.

BIG RACE NAMES————————–Nothing known of.

STADIUM SHARED WITH—————–Athletics and Football.

LAST MEETING——————————February 1955
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————Still there.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-N/A

BUILT ON SITE——————————-A totally transformed Athletics Stadium from the days of greyhound racing.
In some cases, structure’s that originally covered the venue after the stadium had been demolished, may have been themselves demolished too, so the one described is more likely to be the one which now presently covers the site.

EVIDENCE LEFT TODAY——————-Nothing known of.

FURTHER COMMENTS——————–In 1934 local schoolboys were band from the stadium due to them being regularly caught gambling with bookmakers.

The Glamorgan seaside resort of Barry Island lies approximately 8 miles east of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Although a popular holiday destination for the South Wales folk, yet on the sporting side of things Barry Island could be more recognised for its football club Barry Town, whose giant killing exploits in Europe during the late 1990’s became back page headlines on more than one occasion.

Barry Town played at Jenner Park, an athletics stadium situated one mile east of its town centre, and it was here that during the early 1930’s that Greyhound Racing controversially featured. The venue began to develop around 1912, after a section of land known as Barry Dock, which happened to be owned by the Jenner family, became used as a football pitch for the newly formed Barry Football Club. By the end of the Great War the football pitch had become known as Jenner Park, which by now had two small wooden stands, and earth embankments which encircled the rest of the pitch. More facilities were added during the 1920’s, which saw a new grandstand erected along with new concrete terracing laid for better viewing.

However, by the great depression of the 1930’s, the football club was on the verge of financial ruin and knowing that Greyhound Racing had attracted much interest in South Wales, it came as no surprise that talks had taken place regarding the introduction of the sport at Jenner Park. The first meeting staged at Jenner Park was on the 3rd of September 1932, and soon crowds began to flock to see the dogs competing regularly.

Yet Jenner Park was never short of controversy as suggested earlier, as local clergyman continued to hand in petitions to the council, objecting against the running of the sport. By 1934 the track was creating plenty of interest, and in some cases, it was getting out of hand, even the greyhound promoters put a ban on schoolboys entering the stadium, as pupils from a nearby school were found betting regularly with track bookmakers. Even so, and without the controversy and the unwelcomed publicity, if it wasn’t for the greyhounds, the football club would no doubt have folded.

The interruption of the Second World War had seen all sporting activities cease at Jenner Park, as the venue became used as a military storage depot. But in 1944 with the visions of hostilities ending, the Welsh Greyhound Association purchased the stadium. This would mean the return of Greyhound Racing once more, yet the WGA’s kind generosity had also secured the return of the towns football club, who had agreed a tenancy rent free. Yet the new ownership had not gone down to well with the local council after their £3,000 offer for the venue had been secretly outbid by the £5,000 figure offered by the WGA.

Once hostilities had ceased further hiccups regarding Greyhound Racing was experienced, mainly felt by new post war regulations had seen them forced to give up Saturday afternoon meetings, and also face stronger taxation from the newly introduced betting regulations. Sadly, 1955 witnessed the end of Greyhound Racing at Jenner Park, it all came about through the sale of the stadium to the Aberdare Greyhound Racing Company, who had almost agreed a £5,000 bid accepted to purchase the venue. But a rumoured £9,000 late bid from the council had been accepted, who by now had become its new owners. With the stadium now Council owned, the chances of the return of Greyhound Racing remained remote indeed, their views were that without dog racing Barry Town Football Club would have a better chance of joining the English Football League.

With that statement that is how Jenner Park continued, simply hosting non-league football although Rugby Union did feature later. But the redevelopment plans that began to take place in 1987 witnessed a total transformation of the venue, which in turn removed many of the Greyhound Racing remaining features from days gone by. After it became a more recognised international athletics venue, a new main stand and further facilities were added during 1996. And that is how Jenner Park remains today, in a total contrast from those days of Greyhound Racing, although it does keep its oval shape mainly due its modern athletics track. Non-league football continues to be its main Saturday afternoon attraction, with the recently formed Barry Town United playing matches there after the earlier Barry Town went into administration in 2003.