Parkwood Greyhound Stadium, Craven Road, Aireworth, Keighley, West Yorkshire.
POSTCODE———————————-BD21 4AU
LOCATED————————————Half a mile north of Keighley town centre, and east of the junction with the B6265 Bradford Road and the A650 Airevalley Road. The access to the stadium was down Surrey Street or Priory Street just off Bradford Road. The stadium’s site cuts across the A650 to buildings situated on Worth Bridge Road.
ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Sports fields
DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1947
DATE VENUE OPENED——————-1947
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.
FIRST MEETING—————————-November 22nd 1947, 1500 Attended the meeting.
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———————————–308, 518 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—————————None available
STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Sometimes amateur football.
LAST MEETING——————————-December 24th 1974.
Greyhound Racing only.
STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-December 1974
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.
STADIUM DEMOLITION——————–Late 1970’s
BUILT ON SITE——————————–Today sees no evidence of the stadium ever having been there, as the A650 Express Way dissects the old stadium site in to two sections, with a recreational park area now covering its north side, and the south side covered by Worthdale House, an office block belonging to Kone Plc. which is situated at the end of Worth Bridge Road.
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
FURTHER COMMENTS———————The Greyhound Company was fined £200 in 1947 for using building materials that should have been used for the construction of housing.
The West Yorkshire town of Keighley is situated roughly 19 miles north west of the city of Leeds, with its rugby league club Keighley Cougars being its only real sporting recognition during modern times. But like a number of small Yorkshire towns, Keighley did once host greyhound racing at the respectable sized Parkwood Greyhound Stadium.
The Parkwood Greyhound Stadium was located roughly one mile north of Keighley town centre, its access to the stadium being down either Surrey Street, Priory Street, and the now built over Craven Road, all of which branched off the B6265 Bradford Road. Up until the outbreak of the Second World War, the original site was known as Craven Walk, and had been nothing more than a sports field used by a number of amateur football clubs. The Second World War had seen the removal of all outbuildings linked to the sports field, some being transferred to a poultry farm close by, which had left the site abandoned and neglected.
After the war Keighley Town Football Club soon made it their home, but in 1947 a group of greyhound racing enthusiasts purchased the site, with the view of constructing a track around the football pitch. The venue eventually became totally enclosed before opening up as a flapping track, seeing Parkwood stage its first meeting on the 22nd of November 1947, with 1500 racegoers witnessing the spectacle.
By 1948 the football club had folded, leaving Greyhound Racing as the venue’s sole purpose. But a dark period during 1955, had seen the stadium close, the stadium’s owner claiming that high taxation on his income had left him with little profit. Fortunately, the closure was only temporary, and soon the stadium was back in action this time under new ownership. The Parkwood Stadium operated as an independent track throughout its existence, running six dog races over distances of 308, 518 yards and 700 yards, with the greyhounds chasing an inside Sumner type hare.
By the turn of the 1970’s the stadium began to show the signs of depreciation, with news having filtered through that the site had been earmarked to make way for the newly proposed Aire Valley Road. Once the announcement had made, it was clear that any improvements of the stadium had been shelved, and that any money spent was on up keep costs only. Unfortunately, by 1974 the stadium was running at a loss, with the track’s promoters in desperate financial trouble, and that closure was inevitable when the track staged its final meeting on the 24th of December 1974. A locally trained greyhound called Santa’s Pet, was to win the very last race over the four bend trip.
After the closure, the stadium drifted in to a derelict state, with all track equipment having been sold off, but amateur football clubs still made use of the infield, right up until the tracks demolition in the late 1970’s. Today sees no evidence of the stadium ever having been there, as the A650 Express Way dissects the old stadium site in to two sections, with a recreational park area now covering its north side, and the south side covered by Worthdale House, an office block belonging to Kone PLC which is situated at the end of Worth Bridge Road.
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