Dudley Sports Centre was an outdoor sports centre located in Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was laid out at the end of the 19th century and expanded in 1928 on the construction of a football ground on the site; which became the home of the town's football team

Dudley Town F.C.

Dudley Town F.C. are a football club based in Dudley, West Midlands, England. The club is one of the oldest non-league teams in the Midlands region, having been established in 1888...

. There was also a cricket pitch, athletics field and public playing field.

Parts of the ground were affected by mining subsidence for much of the centre's existence. It was finally shut down on 25 May 1985 when a 40-foot wide hole appeared on the cricket pitch. All subsequent plans for sports to return to the centre had to be shelved due to ongoing problems with subsidence.

By the early 1990s, Dudley Sports Centre was heavily overgrown and the site was fenced off for safety reasons, though no demolition work had yet taken place. On at least one occasion, gypsies moved onto the site before the local authority forced them to move on.

Clearance of the site began in 1998, in preparation for the construction of the Castle Gate complex; which would operate as a business and leisure park. This project had been on the council's agenda for at least six years. In 2001, a McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 and Showcase

Showcase Cinemas

Showcase Cinemas is a movie theater chain owned and operated by National Amusements. Operating more than 1,354 indoor screens in the United States, United Kingdom and Latin America.-USA:* Connecticut* Massachusetts* Ohio* New Jersey* Rhode Island...

 cinema opened on the site, with Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....

 opening an outlet the following year. The site now also consists of a bowling alley, hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 and American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 (Frankie & Benny's

Frankie & Benny's

Frankie & Benny's is a chain of Italian-American restaurants in the UK with numerous outlets nationwide run by The Restaurant Group plc. Its first location was Leicester in 1995 but now the chain has over 150 locations across the UK and also abroad, and smaller branches called "Little...

) as well as several units for commercial use.