Mostyn Avenue, Syston, Nr Leicester, Leicestershire.

POSTCODE———————————-LE7 2EU

LOCATED————————————The small town of Syston is located six miles north west of Leicester city centre. The venue was situated about half a mile east of the town, at the junction with East Avenue and Mostyn Avenue, with this point being the start of the access road that lead to the track.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Lodge Farm and adjoining grazing land.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1929 for Speedway.

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-1931
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————-“Racing December 1931”
Greyhound Racing only.

LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-Independent
All venues covered would have to be be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refere to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——Early 1950’s adverts shows outside Sumner but must have switched to inside Sumner sometime during mid 1950’s.
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———————————–285 and 475 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—————————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—————————None known.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Speedway

LAST MEETING——————————-Possibly 1959 – information required.
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-1959
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————–Don’t know

BUILT ON SITE——————————–Houses on Mowbray Drive.
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——————–None known of.

FURTHER COMMENTS———————None

Another one of the Leicestershire greyhound tracks, was the one found in the town of Syston, a small town situated roughly six miles northeast of Leicester. Syston greyhound track was situated about half a mile east of its town centre and had been constructed on land just south of Lodge Farm.

The first signs of any sporting activities came during 1929, when a group of speedway enthusiasts built a dirt track on the site. But their new venture began to fail miserably, and any further development was halted due to poor financial circumstances. The failure of the Speedway gave the opportunity for Greyhound Racing enthusiasts to move in and level the land to construct a circuit.

It was during late 1931 that gatherings of both greyhounds and whippet racing events were staged, with the venue in its early years being primitive indeed. Once the venue had become established, racing consisted of six greyhounds chasing firstly, an outside Sumner, then an inside Sumner type hare over distances of 285 and 475 yards.

Business continued for almost thirty years before Syston staged its final meeting possibly during 1959. It was around this period that the site had been sold to developers, and by the early 1960’s, both Mowbray Drive and Belvoir Drive covered the site, leaving no trace at all of Syston Greyhound Track. The owner of the venue during this period was a Mr Alfred Cardinal Newman who lived in The Lodge Farm building, which itself lay within the stadium grounds. He left The Lodge during 1961, before becoming a resident on Belvoir Drive.

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