Harringay Stadium
Encyclopedia
Harringay Stadium was a major greyhound racing
and speedway
venue in Harringay
, North London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987.
(GRA). After great success with their first track at Belle Vue in Manchester
in 1926, they opened both White City
and Harringay stadiums in 1927.
The driving force behind the GRA, and its Managing Director until the 1960s, was Brigadier-General Alfred Critchley
who wrote in his autobiography that, when he first learned of greyhound racing
, "It immediately occurred to me that this might prove to be the poor man's racecourse". Apparently his interest in how the lower paid classes were losing money by backing horses was born out of concern for his valet who lost large sums betting on horse racing.
Harringay Stadium was constructed by Messrs T.G. Simpson of Victoria Street, London, at a cost of £35,000. The 23 acres (93,077.8 m²) site had been the Williamson's Pottery Works from the late 18th century through to the early 1900s. It was then used as a dumping ground for the spoil from the construction of the Piccadilly line
to Finsbury Park.
On completion, the rather awkward structure had a capacity of 50,000. The main stand running along the north of the site seated 3,000. The remaining 47,000 spectators were accommodated on terracing constructed on earth banking. When it opened the stadium was originally called Harringay Park.
There were a number of additions to the stadium in the years after construction including a number of smaller stands around the track and the construction of a restaurant in the main stand. One of the most renowned additions was the Julius totalisator. This electro-mechanical computer, installed in 1930 and extended and upgraded in 1948, saw continuous service until the stadium was closed in 1987.
was run continuously at the stadium from 1927 until its closure 60 years later. In 1935 Harringay held its first major race, the Pall Mall Stakes
which moved to Oxford Stadium
in 1987 after closure. In 1940 it hosted the prestigious greyhound race, the Derby
. Such was Harringay's reputation that in the 1950s Sporting Life called the track "the best running circuit in Britain".
Although the sport was in decline from the 1960s onwards, Harringay had a brief spell of fame when the stadium became the home of Greyhound racing on London Weekend Television's
World of Sport
between 1972 and 1982.
The last greyhound meeting was held on 25 September 1987.
, track, Arthur Leggett, to increase attendance at his venue.
Twelve cheetahs were imported into the UK from Kenya in December 1936 by explorer Kenneth Gandar-Dower
. After six months' quarantine the cheetahs were given a year to acclimatise and for training at Harringay and Staines stadia. The cheetahs ran in public for the first time to a packed house at the Romford track, on Saturday, 11 December, 1937. After this initial race, the cheetahs had only one further outing. Needless to say they consistently beat the greyhounds.
The reason for the failure of the enterprise is not known, though it is believed that complaints from local residents and pressure generated by other track owners had some bearing on the decision. Other speculation suggests the experiment failed because the animals had no interest in racing.
track was laid inside the greyhound track and speedway events began at Harringay Stadium on May 29 1928, three months after the first speedway event was held in the UK. After four years, with mixed success, the events were discontinued. However, they resumed in 1935 and, after a break during the war, speedway events ran from April 4 1947 until 1954. During the 1930s, many events were promoted by sports promoter Mr Tom Bradbury-Pratt.
The home team was known as the Canaries, then the Tigers, and finally the Harringay Racers
. Australian Vic Duggan
was the top star from 1947 to 1950. When he retired Split Waterman took over as Racers star rider.
The huge postwar popularity of speedway declined through the early 1950s and Harringay was one of many tracks that discontinued their involvement in the sport in that period. The stadium was last used for speedway when it staged the Provincial League Riders' Championship on 16 September, 1961.
was first held at Harringay stadium in 1954-55. After a break of five years, racing resumed in 1960 and continued until 1979.
The first world final for stock cars took place at Harringay on 24 June 1955. The cars returned to Harringay for the World Championship finals in 1963, 1967, 1970 and 1973.
In 1979 the stadium enjoyed a brief spell of fame of a different kind when a stock car event at the stadium was used as one of the locations for the film The Long Good Friday
.
Banger racing
(in which team tactics and more deliberate interception of opposing cars was permitted) also flourished at the stadium, featuring teams such as the North London Teddy Bears and the "Ahern Rats". The last Banger world final at Harringay took place in 1979.
at Harringay but held his ground by holding a gun to Sabini's stomach.
Contemporary newspaper reports suggest that the crowds at the stadium could also be prone to violent disorder. There were at least three documented incidents of serious crowd disorder between 1938 and 1957. On May 14, 1938, when speedway racing was stopped early due to an accident, a crowd of 2,000 demanded their money back. When their demands were ignored the crowd broke onto the track, smashing and damaging parts of the stadium and setting fire to the track's tractor.
Eight years later a crowd attending a greyhound racing event ran riot after a second-placed dog was disqualified. According to The Guardian
, the crowd
In June 1957 another disqualification provoked a further riot at a greyhound racing event. Similar levels of disorder as the previous riot were dealt with on this occasion by firemen from six fire appliances who turned their hoses on the crowd. Apparently the angry crowd was quickly dispersed, but they left quite a trail of destruction.
The popularity of greyhound racing started to decline in the 1960s. Both this and some poor investment decisions by the GRA left the company almost £20 million in debt by 1975. In spite of this, the company was talking about major investment in Harringay as late as 1970. However, it had also been in talks with "a leading supermarket chain" about the sale of the land as early as 1967. In any event the stadium received little investment and as a result became quickly dilapidated.
In line with its property disinvestment
strategy, the GRA sold the Harringay site in 1985 to Sainsbury's for £10.5 million. Two years later, on 27th September 1987, the stadium finally closed down. The site was cleared and in its place a Sainsbury's store and some new housing was built . The only remaining trace of the stadium is a very small area of open land to the south and east of the Sainsbury's car park, called Harringay Stadium Slopes.
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
and speedway
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
venue in Harringay
Harringay
Harringay is a residential area of North London, part of the London Borough of Haringey, United Kingdom. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the northern boundary of Finsbury Park up to the southern boundary of Duckett's Common, not far from Turnpike Lane.-Location:The...
, North London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987.
Construction
Harringay Stadium was the third greyhound racing stadium to open in Britain. It was owned by the Greyhound Racing Association LtdGreyhound Racing Association
The Greyhound Racing Association is a private company involved in the management of sports venues.It currently operates five sites:*Oxford Stadium*Wimbledon Stadium, London*Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham*Perry Barr Stadium, Birmingham...
(GRA). After great success with their first track at Belle Vue in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1926, they opened both White City
White City Stadium
White City Stadium was built in White City, London, for the 1908 Summer Olympics, often seen as the precursor to the modern seater stadium and noted for hosting the finish of the first modern distance marathon. It also hosted speedway and a match at the 1966 World Cup, before the stadium was...
and Harringay stadiums in 1927.
The driving force behind the GRA, and its Managing Director until the 1960s, was Brigadier-General Alfred Critchley
Alfred Critchley
Brigadier-General Alfred Cecil Critchley, CMG, CBE, DSO was an entrepreneur and politician in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1934 to 1935....
who wrote in his autobiography that, when he first learned of greyhound racing
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
, "It immediately occurred to me that this might prove to be the poor man's racecourse". Apparently his interest in how the lower paid classes were losing money by backing horses was born out of concern for his valet who lost large sums betting on horse racing.
Harringay Stadium was constructed by Messrs T.G. Simpson of Victoria Street, London, at a cost of £35,000. The 23 acres (93,077.8 m²) site had been the Williamson's Pottery Works from the late 18th century through to the early 1900s. It was then used as a dumping ground for the spoil from the construction of the Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
to Finsbury Park.
On completion, the rather awkward structure had a capacity of 50,000. The main stand running along the north of the site seated 3,000. The remaining 47,000 spectators were accommodated on terracing constructed on earth banking. When it opened the stadium was originally called Harringay Park.
There were a number of additions to the stadium in the years after construction including a number of smaller stands around the track and the construction of a restaurant in the main stand. One of the most renowned additions was the Julius totalisator. This electro-mechanical computer, installed in 1930 and extended and upgraded in 1948, saw continuous service until the stadium was closed in 1987.
Greyhound Racing
Greyhound racingGreyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
was run continuously at the stadium from 1927 until its closure 60 years later. In 1935 Harringay held its first major race, the Pall Mall Stakes
Pall Mall Stakes
The Pall Mall Stakes is a prestigious greyhound competition held at Oxford Stadium.Run at Harringay Stadium from 1939 until 1987, it moved to Oxford Stadium in 1988.-Past winners:...
which moved to Oxford Stadium
Oxford Stadium
Oxford Stadium is the home of greyhound racing and speedway in Oxford, located in Sandy Lane, Cowley.-History:The stadium was built in 1938 on the site of a 'flapping' track where owners could turn up and run their greyhounds around an oval on the days selected for racing...
in 1987 after closure. In 1940 it hosted the prestigious greyhound race, the Derby
English Greyhound Derby
The English Greyhound Derby, also known as the williamhill.com Greyhound Derby for sponsorship purposes, is the most prestigious race on the UK calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927...
. Such was Harringay's reputation that in the 1950s Sporting Life called the track "the best running circuit in Britain".
Although the sport was in decline from the 1960s onwards, Harringay had a brief spell of fame when the stadium became the home of Greyhound racing on London Weekend Television's
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
World of Sport
World of Sport (UK TV series)
World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
between 1972 and 1982.
The last greyhound meeting was held on 25 September 1987.
Cheetah Racing at Harringay
In 1937, Harringay Stadium was part of a scheme by the owner of the Romford greyhoundRomford Greyhound Stadium
Romford Greyhound Stadium is a dog track located in Romford in the London Borough of Havering in east London which is owned by the Gala Coral Group. The stadium has a capacity for over 4,300 people....
, track, Arthur Leggett, to increase attendance at his venue.
Twelve cheetahs were imported into the UK from Kenya in December 1936 by explorer Kenneth Gandar-Dower
Kenneth Gandar-Dower
Kenneth Cecil Gandar-Dower was a leading English sportsman, aviator, explorer and author.Born at his parents' home in Regent's Park, London, Gandar-Dower was the fourth and youngest son of independently wealthy Joseph Wilson Gandar-Dower and his wife Amelia Frances Germaine...
. After six months' quarantine the cheetahs were given a year to acclimatise and for training at Harringay and Staines stadia. The cheetahs ran in public for the first time to a packed house at the Romford track, on Saturday, 11 December, 1937. After this initial race, the cheetahs had only one further outing. Needless to say they consistently beat the greyhounds.
The reason for the failure of the enterprise is not known, though it is believed that complaints from local residents and pressure generated by other track owners had some bearing on the decision. Other speculation suggests the experiment failed because the animals had no interest in racing.
Speedway
A SpeedwayMotorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
track was laid inside the greyhound track and speedway events began at Harringay Stadium on May 29 1928, three months after the first speedway event was held in the UK. After four years, with mixed success, the events were discontinued. However, they resumed in 1935 and, after a break during the war, speedway events ran from April 4 1947 until 1954. During the 1930s, many events were promoted by sports promoter Mr Tom Bradbury-Pratt.
The home team was known as the Canaries, then the Tigers, and finally the Harringay Racers
Harringay Racers (speedway)
The Harringay Racers were a motorcycle speedway team who raced at the Harringay Stadium from 1947 until 1954 in the National League Division One....
. Australian Vic Duggan
Vic Duggan
Victor 'Vic' Duggan was a Speedway who won the London Riders' Championship in 1947 whilst with the Harringay Racers....
was the top star from 1947 to 1950. When he retired Split Waterman took over as Racers star rider.
The huge postwar popularity of speedway declined through the early 1950s and Harringay was one of many tracks that discontinued their involvement in the sport in that period. The stadium was last used for speedway when it staged the Provincial League Riders' Championship on 16 September, 1961.
Stock car racing
Stock car racingStock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
was first held at Harringay stadium in 1954-55. After a break of five years, racing resumed in 1960 and continued until 1979.
The first world final for stock cars took place at Harringay on 24 June 1955. The cars returned to Harringay for the World Championship finals in 1963, 1967, 1970 and 1973.
In 1979 the stadium enjoyed a brief spell of fame of a different kind when a stock car event at the stadium was used as one of the locations for the film The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film...
.
Banger racing
Banger racing
Banger Racing is a tarmac or dirt track racing type of motorsport event popularised in both North America and Europe and especially United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands in which drivers of old vehicles race against one another around a race track and the race is...
(in which team tactics and more deliberate interception of opposing cars was permitted) also flourished at the stadium, featuring teams such as the North London Teddy Bears and the "Ahern Rats". The last Banger world final at Harringay took place in 1979.
Other uses
There were a range of occasional events including the Hollywood Motor Rodeo in May 1955 and local school sports days from the early 1950s until 1964.Historical Notes
Historical accounts paint a colourful picture of life around the stadium. Joe Coral, the founder of Coral Bookmakers, started his business at Harringay Stadium and other similar venues. Coral is supposed to have come up against organised crime boss Darby SabiniCharles Sabini
Charles Sabini commonly known as Darby Sabini, was a British criminal of mixed Italian and English parentage who, as leader of the Sabinis and 'king of the racecourse gangs', dominated the London underworld and racecourses throughout the south of England for much of the early twentieth century...
at Harringay but held his ground by holding a gun to Sabini's stomach.
Contemporary newspaper reports suggest that the crowds at the stadium could also be prone to violent disorder. There were at least three documented incidents of serious crowd disorder between 1938 and 1957. On May 14, 1938, when speedway racing was stopped early due to an accident, a crowd of 2,000 demanded their money back. When their demands were ignored the crowd broke onto the track, smashing and damaging parts of the stadium and setting fire to the track's tractor.
Eight years later a crowd attending a greyhound racing event ran riot after a second-placed dog was disqualified. According to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, the crowd
In June 1957 another disqualification provoked a further riot at a greyhound racing event. Similar levels of disorder as the previous riot were dealt with on this occasion by firemen from six fire appliances who turned their hoses on the crowd. Apparently the angry crowd was quickly dispersed, but they left quite a trail of destruction.
Closure & demolition
In line with its property disinvestment
Divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for either financial or ethical objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm...
strategy, the GRA sold the Harringay site in 1985 to Sainsbury's for £10.5 million. Two years later, on 27th September 1987, the stadium finally closed down. The site was cleared and in its place a Sainsbury's store and some new housing was built . The only remaining trace of the stadium is a very small area of open land to the south and east of the Sainsbury's car park, called Harringay Stadium Slopes.
External links
- Harringay Online's Harringay Timeline
- Harringay greyhound racing photo archive at TopFoto
- TopFoto photo archive of Billy Graham's 1954 visit to Harringay Arena with opening show at Harringay Stadium
- The Julius Totalisator at Harringay Stadium
- Video clips of Julius Totalisator
- Harringay Online - a local networking site with lots of information about Harringay
- Speedway Researcher