Stadium Way, Crayford, Kent, South East London
POSTCODE———————————-DA1 4HR
LOCATED————————————The stadium lies fifteen miles east of London city centre and 4 mile west of the Dartford Crossing and just half a mile south west of Crayford town centre.
ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Stadium built on open land 100 yards west of the earlier stadium operating at 90 degrees from the earlier track.
DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1985-86
DATE VENUE OPENED——————-1986
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.
FIRST MEETING—————————–September 1st 1986.
Greyhound Racing only.
LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-NGRC
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——Outside Swaffham.
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———————————–380 and 540 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—————————Dont 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—————————The Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, The Kent St Leger, The Guys and Dolls and the Coronation Cup.
STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Nothing known of.
LAST MEETING——————————-Still operational.
Greyhound Racing only.
STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-N/A
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.
STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-N/A
BUILT ON SITE——————————-N/A
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——————-N/A
FURTHER COMMENTS——————–None
The third greyhound track associated with the borough of Bexley is the present day Crayford Greyhound Stadium, a venue situated four miles south west of the Dartford Crossing. Although the original two Crayford venues lay virtually on top of each other, this one lay a matter of one hundred yards further south west, situated on a five acre prepared section of land.
Construction began in November 1985 on land that had been purchased from cash made available from the sale of the old Crayford venue, which had been sold in 1983 to the Sainsbury’s Shopping Group, at a cost of around £2.5 million pounds. Once built the stadium happened to be much smaller than its predecessor, having a crowd capacity of just 1200, a figure which includes a 200 seated restaurant, although having car parking space for around 800 vehicles.
Spectator viewing is restricted to just one side, with no other access to the trackside possible, except for authorised personnel. The all-silicon sanded track, incidentally, laid at a 90-degree direction to the old Crayford track, offers racing distances of 380 metres for a four-bend contest, and 540 metres for the six-bend trip.
Crayford’s first meeting came on the 1st of September 1986, and again continued to stage events under NGRC rules. Six greyhounds contest of the wide but short distance circuit, with the hounds chasing an outside Swaffham type hare. Its big race attractions are The Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, The Kent St Leger, The Guys and Dolls, and The Coronation Cup run over the 540-metre trip. Today, Crayford could be classed as one of the smallest tracks on the NGRC calendar and remains one of only two left operating in the borough of London, alongside Romford.
The stadium is owned by The Ladbrokes Group, a company who had also been linked to the old Crayford venue since the mid 1970’s.
Memorabilia for this track is required for this page, if you can help please contact me.
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