Love The Dogs - Hall Green Greyhound Stadium

Greyhound racing was developed from coursing in 18th-century Britain. The first official coursing club was the Swaffham Coursing Society in Norfolk, England, which put on its first event in 1776. Modern greyhound racing was developed in England by the GRA. An American businessman named Charles A. Munn had secured the rights from Smith for artificial-lure racing in England in the early 1920s. Together with three key players he formed the Greyhound Racing Association Trust Ltd in August 1925. The North West of England was chosen to introduce the sport to the country, most likely hoping that the area's coursing tradition would make it attractive to the local population. On 14 October 1925 the association took a seven-year lease on land at the northern end of Kirkmanshulme Lane (an old brickfield), Manchester at an annual rent of £276, leased from the adjacent Belle Vue Zoo. In 1927, Greyhound racing was taken to London with the acquisition of the near-derelict White City Stadium. GRA also moved its headquarters to White City Stadium from Belle Vue Stadium at the same time. By the end of 1927 the company had acquired an interest in 18 racing tracks. Its relationship to many of these tracks was affiliation, rather than full ownership. Nonetheless, in November 1927, just two years after the company was formed they were able to report that 4,500,000 people had passed through their turnstiles giving gross receipts of £500,000.