Luton Stadium was a former

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

stadium.

Origins

A proposal to construct a stadium in Luton in 1927 on a seven-acre site on Beechwood Road in nearby Leagrave had failed to get planning permission after drawing objections from several fronts but mainly the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. One year later a second attempt was made with the suggested site being open land on Icknield Road. The proposal by the Luton and Dunstable Greyhound Racing Club was refused planning permission on appeal by the district council in April 1928. The Luton and Dunstable Greyhound Racing Club finally gained permission and constructed a stadium in 1931 on the south side of the Dunstable Road and east side of Skimpot Road in

Skimpot Skimpot is a suburb of Luton, in Bedfordshire, England. The area is roughly bounded by Dunstable Road to the north, Hatters Way to the south, Skimpot Road to the west, and the M1 to the east. Originally a small rural settlement, Skimpot was en ...

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

Opening

The stadium offered a simple covered grandstand on the home straight with very few other facilities when racing got underway in 1931.

Speedway

A 311-yard speedway track inside the dog track hosted the Luton Hatters from 1934 but due to financial problems only lasted three years.

History

After the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

in 1946 the totalisator turnover was £308,810 and the stadium was run by Luton Stadium Ltd in 1953. The racing was independent (unaffiliated to a governing body). By the mid-1960s racing was held on Tuesday and Saturday nights with trial days every other Thursday afternoon. The track had a circumference of 405 yards and race distances of 410, 470 and 675 yards with an 'Inside Sumner' hare. Fourteen

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

s were in attendance and the principal races were the Bedfordshire Derby and the Bedfordshire St Leger.

Closure

Racing continued until November 1973 when the stadium was closed. The exact circumstances of closure were confusing because the track had been purchased by the Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (T.G.H) who owned some prominent tracks including Crayford & Bexleyheath,

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, Brough Park,

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census of 49,587. It is ...

and Monmore and around the same time a deal was on the table for a

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...

takeover of TGH. When the Ladbrokes takeover was complete the track did not figure in the company plans and it was sold and demolished for industrial units. They then built a new car park for their Caesars Palace Casino on part of the site which today is the site of a Mecca Bingo, casino and fitness centre and the car parks for all three.

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England 1931 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England