CLEETHORPES

Garden Stadium, Kings Road, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

POSTCODE———————————-DN35 0PL

LOCATED————————————About one and a half miles south west of Cleethorpes town centre, along the Kings Road until arriving at the Pleasure Island Theme Park.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Built on a Zoo park that closed in 1979.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————-1981

DATE VENUE OPENED——————1981
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————-July 9 1981, 800 attended with a greyhound called Liz Shaw winning the first event over the 273 metre trip.
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———————————–273, 460 and 641 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—————————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—————————Cleethorpes Derby.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Stock Car Racing.

LAST MEETING——————————-Mid 1986
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-Early 1990’s.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————–Mid 1990’s.

BUILT ON SITE——————————–The Pleasure Island Theme 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———————The Boating Lake inside the Pleasureground pinpoints the infield of the greyhound track.

Another of the independent flapping tracks found at a seaside resort, was the one situated on the North Lincolnshire coast at Cleethorpes. The idea of introducing Stock Car and Greyhound Racing at Cleethorpes lay in the hands of the Spedeworth Group, a company who’s main interest was promoting motor sport events, although they had strong links with greyhound tracks at both Wisbech and Aldershot.

Spedeworth named their new venue, the Garden Stadium after it had been developed on a site left abandoned by a zoo which had closed during 1979. The venue, which was situated virtually on the sea promenade, and was hoped to be in an ideal location to attract more custom, by targeting holiday makers.

It was during the early months of 1981, that an oval tarmac surface was constructed for the Stock Cars, with a silica type sand greyhound track laid around its perimeter. It was a narrow track with tight bends, due to the limited space left available once the construction of a small, covered stand and clubhouse had been completed. On the 9th of July 1981, eight hundred patrons attended the greyhounds first meeting, but the evening did not quite go to plan as they witnessed two void races due to mechanical failures, although the first race did go to plan, as a black bitch called Liz Shaw won the first event over the 273-metre trip.

Early meetings consisted of level break six dog races, all of which contested over distances of 273, 460 and 641 metres, with the hounds chasing an inside Sumner type hare. But attendances soon dwindled, certainly through the Winter months, and with the council allowing midweek meetings only, this also contributed to its low numbers.

Sadly, after five years of Greyhound Racing, the promoters realised that the interest was just not there and made the decision to end the sport during the Summer of 1986. Stock Cars and Banger Racing events continued to take place, but continuous complaints by locals, regarding noise levels, dogged its existence forcing the stadium’s closure for good during the early 1990’s.

Today, the venue is covered by an amusement park called PleasureLand, situated roughly one and a half miles north of Cleethorpes town centre. Although the site has totally transformed, to pinpoint on were the old greyhound track once lay, is actually on the banks that surrounds the present-day boating lake.

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