It is known that Greyhound Racing took place at a temporary level during 1969 at the old ground of Ilford Football Club. The suburban town of Ilford lies in the county of Essex, roughly nine miles northeast of London city centre.
The venue was known as Newbury Park or The Lynn Road Stadium, which had been the football clubs’ home since 1903, and at one point had a crowd capacity of 18,000, although it was never tested. The ground consisted of a 1,400-seater main stand, with a paddock in front, which was also sheltered by a peculiar, shaped roof. The majority of the pitch was surrounded by concrete terracing, with a further covered stand on the opposite side to the main stand.
Yet surprisingly, there is proof, although information is restricted, that Greyhound Racing did take place there, with just a handful of meetings being staged during a six-week period. It has been suggested that that racing took place on temporary U-shaped track on the football pitch, positioned so the best viewing was from the main stand.
Some of the information received suggests that local residents complained about the gatherings, possibly regarding the noise of barking greyhounds, therefore suggesting that events never took place ever again.
Unfortunately, the Lynn Road venue no longer exists as it was totally demolished during the latter end of 1979. The site was later built on with Housing on Dellow Close, which is found about one mile northeast of Ilford town centre pinpointing its once location.
The football club left the ground during 1979 and went on to merge with Leytonstone with the newly formed club playing home matches at Leytonstone’s ground. Just to add that in 1948 two of the Olympic Football matches were played at the Lynn Road venue, so it was unique in its own way that few venues along with London’s White City could boast that greyhound racing and Olympics sports had once taken place at a UK sporting venue.
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