Sunderland Greyhound Stadium
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| Location | City of Sunderland |
|---|---|
| Operator | William Hill |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1940 |
| Renovated | 1989 |
| Expanded | 1989 |
| Tenants | |
| Greyhound racing | |
Sunderland Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track situated at Fulwell in the City of Sunderland and English county of Tyne and Wear. Racing takes place on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings as well as an additional BAGS meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The circumference of the track is 378 metres.
Sunderland host two major competitions, one is called the William Hill Classic and the other is called the William Hill Grand Prix. The latter is not to be confused with the defunct classic race, The Grand Prix, held at Walthamstow Stadium until its closure.
Both races form the main part of a festival of racing and have grown in stature due to the value of the first prize for each event.
Designed by architects Matkin and Hawkins, the stadium was built at a cost of £60,000 in 1940. The site chosen for the new Boldon Greyhound Stadium, as it was known at the time, was North of Sunderland and south-east of East Boldon where the Sunderland and Newcastle Roads merged. It ran parallel with this road on its south side and the London & North Eastern Railway on its north side. On the opposite side of the road (slightly east) was the East Boldon hospital for infectious diseases which would later become the sanatorium. Boldon had strong links to the mining community which was a common factor with new greyhound tracks.
It all started on the afternoon of Saturday 23 March 1940 at 3pm, quickly followed by a second and third meeting on the Easter Monday. Fred Gillespie was brought into the track to act as General and Racing Manager, along with other officials A E Hawkins from the Coundon track and George Hall from the White City Stadium (Newcastle). The opening meeting saw eight races over 450 yards and the meeting was advertised as a Sunderland super greyhound stadium with a wonder totalisator and three luxurious clubs, large covered enclosures and a free car park. The first ever winner was trap 2 'Percheron' at odds of 5-2 in a time of 28.35 secs.
The greyhound track at Sunderland has had a varying past with affiliation to the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) on two separate occasions and a long stint as an independent track. It was known as the Newcastle Sports Stadium and the Boldon Greyhound Stadium throughout its history, before being renamed the Sunderland Greyhound Stadium.
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