BREAN SANDS

Coast Road, Brean, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.

POSTCODE———————————–TA8 2QY

LOCATED————————————-The venue lay behind the main reception building which accessed the amusement park.

ORIGINAL SITE——————————The site was originally grazing land but prior to greyhound racing it was a miniture 8 hole golf course.

DATE CONSTRUCTED———————-1975

DATE VENUE OPENED———————July 1975.
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING——————————3rd July 1975.
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———Inside Sumner.
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————————————260, 370, 446 and 637 metres.
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—————————-N/A
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—————————Somerset Derby contested in August over 446 metres.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Nothing found.

LAST MEETING——————————-Monday 12th March 1984. 
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-March 1984.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————–Not known.

BUILT ON SITE——————————–Brean Leisure Park.
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———————Brean Sands is a huge attraction for holiday makers, with a good number of caravan sites and amusement parks.

Just south of the popular coastal resort of Weston Super Mare is the small parish of Brean Sands. Brean Sands is located in the county of Somerset and has developed over the years as a holiday venue blessed with camping and caravan sites, yet is only accessible through the town of Burnham on Sea by means of a single feeder road that stretches for more than two miles. This feeder road is known as Coast Road, it heads northwards along the side of the west banks of the Bristol Channel, shielded from the sea by huge sand dunes.

The resorts development began around 70 years ago on land that had been used for dairy farming for centuries prior, its boom time certainly coming during the 1970’s when a rapid growth of holiday makers arrived during the Summer months. The holiday makers needed entertaining too, which no doubt spurred the opportunity of Greyhound Racing enthusiasts to bring the sport to Brean Sands.

The site of the greyhound track had originally been a drained meadow, but the first signs of other usage came when an eight-hole pitch and put golf course was laid behind an amusement arcade. But it was during the early months of 1975 that the land became levelled once more, this time to create a greyhound track. Opening up as a flapping track, its first meeting came on the 3rd of July, which witnessed six greyhounds chasing an inside Sumner type hare system, over distances of 290 and 490 yards.

Later distances were converted to metric with 100, 260, 370, 446 and 637 metre trips being contested. One of Brean Stadium’s biggest attraction was The Somerset Derby, run during the month of August, when 24 entrants were invited to contest over the 490-yard trip. No doubt the summer months proved a more profitable time for the track, but the bitter winters and its graphical isolation may have contributed to its failure in reaching its first milestone of ten years. Yet the rot began to set in during the early 1980’s, mainly due to the stadium requiring a serious upgrade, and with its promoters having been refused permission to construct a new track nearby, there came a decision by them to cease operations.

Brean ran its final meeting on the 12th of March 1984 and wasn’t long before locals witnessed the site becoming totally redeveloped to make way for the new Brean Leisure Park. It is now over 35 years since the greyhounds last raced at Brean, yet Brean Sands itself continues to make its name as a holiday venue, with as many as 20,000 families arriving during the summer months.

Today, the site of the old Brean track is occupied by an up-to-date amusement park which is found at the rear of Brean Leisure Park’s main reception, set back just off Coast Road.