Walthamstow Stadium, Chingford Road, E17. Probably one of the most famous stadia in greyhound racing's history came into being when bookmaker William Chandler bought an unlicensed dog track, and set about developing his own stadium in the early 1930s.
Opening in 1933, the venue stayed under the Chandler families' control until closure in 2008.
Greyhound racing was the stadium's bread and butter, although Speedway also ran here from 1934-1951, after which the shale track inside the dog track was converted to tarmac. Driver Allen Briggs (138) was a personal friend of the Chandler family, and his father Harry was racing manager at the stadium, so it's probably due to these close ties that F1 stock car racing was able to run for 5 seasons in the 1960s.
The 330 yard tarmac oval hosted racing from 1963-1967, featuring mixed meetings for Senior and Junior stock cars, now known as F1 and F2 stock cars, mainly on Friday nights and Bank Holiday Mondays (7.45pm). The most prestigious event staged for F1 stock cars was the 1967 Semi Final, won by Jim Esau (244).
Once BriSCA had moved on, Spedeworth ran meetings here from 1968-1974.
The stadium was also used for other ventures, and appeared in TV and film, cropped up on an album cover, and even staged an election speech by Winston Churchill.
Eventually falling foul of the developers in 2008, 292 new homes were proposed for the stadium site. However, one part of the stadium still remains to this day. The Grade II listed Art Deco entrance/façade complete with refurbished neon signage takes pride of place. A fitting reminder of glorious days passed.
Andre Zang
