Will Bob Morton be able to save the Walthamstow Dog Stadium?
Mr. Bob Morton, President of the Greyhound Owners, Breeders and Trainers Association made a bid of nearly nine million pounds for the Walthamstow Stadium along with the construction of flats but failed to secure a contract which
disappointed thousands of greyhound fans in London. The bid was made in an effort to reinstate greyhound racing that had been stopped in 2008 upon the purchase of the stadium by London and Quadrant, a housing society.
Steve Yianni of the L&Q said: “The offer failed to provide sufficient assurances on funding and planning viability and proposed a purchase value well short of the current market valuation.
"We have always said we would not stand in the way of anyone who wanted to make an offer”
"This is the first serious offer, but in its present form fails to present a viable consideration.”
Mr Morton, a greyhound racing enthusiast and businessman disagrees with the reason for rejection given by the housing society, saying that it was not the intention of L&Q to start greyhound racing at the stadium. L&Q bought the
Walthamstow stadium at a price of about 18 million pounds and according to Mr Morton, the housing society intended to build flats at the venue and does not want to suffer a loss by dedicating the facility to greyhound racing at half their purchase price.
Regarding the housing association’s concerns about funding, Mr Morton commented: "I am on the [Sunday Times] Rich List - I can afford it."
Apart from this, Mr Morton also had Save Our Stow Campaign backing his bid.
According to Mr. Morton, the purchase of the Walthamstow stadium was made by L&Q at the time the market was at its peak and now they do not want to suffer a loss as a result of that.
Recently, allegations of threats were made by L&Q against the opponents of L&Q’s plans to demolish the site for a social housing development. Save Our Stow has responded by refuting these allegations on their website in the following
words:
“SOS would like to publically say that we totally refute L&Q’s claims that we have threatened or insulted any of their staff in anyway. We will be releasing a press release in response to these allegations very soon.”
The Walthamstow stadium was opened in 1933 by William Chandler in order to provide the London crowd with entertainment in the form of greyhound racing, which usually took the form of gambling as bets were made on race outcomes.
It was the biggest dog racing track in the UK in terms of attendance and revenue generation, with a seating capacity of 5000 spectators.
Greyhound racing fans had the opportunity to entertain themselves five times a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with trials being held on Wednesdays and before racing itself. There were different types of
races, the most common being the 475 and 640 metres as well as the 835 and 880 metres for specialist greyhounds. The Walthamstow stadium was affiliated with twelve greyhound trainers.
Despite these dismal circumstances, Mr Morton has still not given up his efforts to bring back greyhound racing to London. He recently met with Iain Duncan Smith, the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, who according to his assistant
Jo Nash, is giving the Walthamstow Stadium issue high priority. Mr Morton’s proposal of making the stadium a multi-purpose facility for the entire community seems attractive to the MP. Nash added that a meeting was going to be arranged between Iain, Bob and
the three leaders of Waltham Forest council. L&Q will be hard put to defend their position of withholding the Walthamstow Stadium.
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