Not any more you won't be as Walthamstow dogs is going to close in August.

Predictably sold to developers. The council must be mad to give planning for more shitty fucking flats and allowing this, Waltham Forest's only iconic symbol to get flattened.

I'm gutted and disgusted.

They stick mustard up the dog's arses when they put them in the traps to make them run faster, I was once told.

The only tip I ever had at the dogs was to watch for the one that had a dump on the parade down to the traps. It made them run better.

deja vu threadwise, but its still a shame.

I have had many chicken in a bucket dinners there, whilst getting fleeced by dog owners giving their charges a bucket of water, or putting an elastic band round their willie before the start.

Fritz, the other thread: http://www.wsc.co.uk/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,35/func,view/id,29477/catid,31/

I feel and share your pain.

yes, sorry EIM, I knew someone else had done this. Its a shame, still.

Does Tesco really need one there?

At least get my name right

listen, after Night Nurse, you all meld into one.

or possibly Ballyregan Bob/Scurlogue Champ/Glenowen Queen/My Tootsie

(whom I saw all in one night... I was chuffing blessed, and 3 in one race)

Not surprising really, but still very upsetting. Are no parts of the stadium listed? I hope the council will at least keep hold of the neon signs round the entrance and put it up somewhere- which sounds a bit ridiculous but I'd rather that than some bit of cheap community art going in a park.

Geronto, was that the race where one of the big two hurt its leg?

I went to Brighton & Hove dogs on Sunday, and actually made a modest profit (you may remember my statistically extraordinary run of bad luck on my previous visit.) Enough to pay for lunch at the Toby carvery in Worthing, anyway. I guess that's as good as it's gonna get, and I'll savour the experience of being at the dogs (and consider the betting losses to be a necessary expense of that).

Bloody disgrace about Walthamstow. That's such a beautiful building. Especially at night time.

Does this mean that the dog racing in Walthamstow will go underground? Will there be illicit midnight meets where shifty types will hastily set up a portable trap set and motorised hare rail? Will it be like the 80's rave scene all over again? That could be quite good.

King Mob wrote:

QUOTE:
Does this mean that the dog racing in Walthamstow will go underground? Will there be illicit midnight meets where shifty types will hastily set up a portable trap set and motorised hare rail? Will it be like the 80's rave scene all over again? That could be quite good.

That actually happens in South Wales. I read a thing about it. Apparently, dog welfare leaves a lot to be desired, as you'd expect.

Its got wider significance as the UK becomes a huge mass of housing and supermarkets and all individuallity is squeezed out of every district.

In London nothing has been as profitable as selling out your land, pub, factory, football ground, dog tract to developers who put up crappy flats, supermarkets or those storage places.

Tubbs, as I understand it, the frontage is listed, a la the old east and west stands at Highbury.

For those interested in gestures of impotent anger, there's a save walthamstow dogs Facebook group up and running. I'd imagine this week's local paper will be full of stuff about it - I'll keep people posted.

Please do.

What Fritz said. Actually I don't blame developers all that much. It's more down to the greenfield-brownfield distinction which values space outside towns more highly than that in it, which pushes the price of urban land up so that as Juvenal said of ancient Rome, "every tree has to earn its keep". Still, we can rejoice that some patch of green about 10 miles from Walthamstow has been saved.

I wonder to what degree grants are offered to the dogs.

Scandalous isnt it. The perimeter walls with the neon lighting are listed iirc.

BTW E10 have you seen the plans for the development near Blackhorse Rd tube yet? A series of tower blocks ascending in height from four stories at the tube end of Forest Rd to something like twenty stories overlooking the River Lee. Aparently the largest one is an attempt at an "iconic/gateway building" at the Borough borders.