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Temple Mills Lane, Temple Mills, Stratford, London.

POSTCODE———————————-E20 1FR

LOCATED————————————Today the site of the venue would be positioned in a Bus Terminal, east of the junction between Eton Manor Walk and Olympic Park Avenue.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Built on land left behind an artificial manure works that lay along Wycliffe Road.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————--Late 1920’s.

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-Early 1930’s.
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————–1928.

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——Dont 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———————————–310, 460 and 700 yards.
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—————————Not known.
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 Cambridgeshire.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Hosted Boxing Bouts on occasions.

LAST MEETING——————————-1949 (tbc)
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-1949 / 1950
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-The site was firstly turned in to garden allotments before the Clay Lane Co-operative flats took their place during 1977. These flats were purchased later under the Compulsory Purchase Order and the 430 residents were told to leave. The flats were totally demolished in September 2007 to make way for a section of the Olympic Village.

BUILT ON SITE——————————-Now part of the Olympic Village, just north of the A12.
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

FURTHER COMMENTS——————–The venue sometimes mistaken for the Lea Bridge Speedway Stadium, which was situated close by.

Two images of a racecard dated July 2nd 1931. Images provided courtesyt of Mr A Nash.
An extremely rare programme dated November 1937.
Programme courtesy of Mr G Yates.
Three captions printed in The Greyhound Owner newspaper this one dated October 31st 1946.
This one dated July 26th 1951.
This one dated February 3rd 1954.
This chart shows tote turnover figures, but none for Stratford after 1949.
This OS Map dated 1951 still shows the venue. Courtesy of Old Maps.

One of the less recognised greyhound tracks was the one located in the London borough of Stratford, known as The Temple Mills Stadium originally known as The White Temple Stadium. The venue was one of only a handful of tracks in London that operated independently.

It was situated on Temple Mills Lane in the Temple Mills district and must not be mistaken with the motor sports venue known as the Lea Bridge Stadium, which was situated close by. It operated in the shadows of Hackney Greyhound Stadium, the popular known NGRC track which was found less than a quarter of a mile away, west of the Stratford venue. The circuit itself lay in a west to easterly direction, and had long straights, but the lack of width on the available land meant it could accommodate two very tight bends only.

The original site was once the home to an artificial manure works which was accessed from Wycliffe Road. Confusion remains regarding early meetings, with captions suggesting around 1928 with a more enclosed venue developing during the early 1930’s. It is known that the Stratford venue closed during 1949 due to the tracks promoter’s poor financial position.

After its closure, the site became used as an expansion to neighbouring garden allotments, but they too disappeared in 1977, after various dwellings called the Clay Lane Co-Operative flats began to occupy the site. But more recently in 2007, 430 residents were given their notice to move out of their flats, after the site had been acquired by the council under a compulsory purchase agreement, due to the area being requisitioned for the Olympic Village.

Today, the site of the old Stratford Stadium, along with Hackney Stadium are covered by the Olympic Village, with a more accurate location of the Stratford Stadium being located beneath a bus terminal area, east of the junction between Eton Manor Walk and Olympic Park Avenue, on the northern side of the A12, opposite the Olympic Velodrome.

A programme, photograph or even memorabilia for this track is required for this page, if you can help please contact me.