‘Ghost Sign’ of the Preston Greyhound Stadium in the former Grimsargh Street off Acregate Lane. Pic: John Regan.

A strange question, if ever there was one but there is a definite answer and that is the world-famous Horse Riding Cossacks.

Many Prestonians will recall the former greyhound racing track off Acregate Lane in Preston. It opened on Thursday 3 May 1932 and although it closed in May 1978 due to financial troubles, it did open again that same year and finally ceased business on 3 December 1988.

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To return to the subject of the Cossacks; in 1937 the world-famous Russian Cossacks, know as ‘Les Cosaques Djiguites’, came to Preston and performed what was described as ‘A show of trick riding and Russian singing and dancing’. Due to the popularity of the show, they came back to Preston Greyhound Stadium again the following year and provided a further extravaganza of entertainment. I doubt that Preston ever saw anything like that again in the greyhound stadium.

World-Famous Cossacks appearing at Preston Greyhound Stadium in 1937, as advertised in the Lancashire Evening Post

It is quite surprising then that during the years of the stadium’s existence, there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of photographs being captured of the establishment. There are one or two ‘flyer’ images around and there is the photograph of a ‘ghost sign’ on the former Grimsargh Street by Flickr member, John Regan as illustrated in the picture at the beginning of this article.

Preston Greyhound Flyer. Pic: Preston Digital Archive

Preston Greyhound Stadium Flyer. Pic: Tony Worrall.

In December of 2008, historian Keith Johnson wrote a very interesting piece in the Lancashire Evening Post about the greyhound stadium and some of the people who worked there, this can be viewed by following this link here.

It would be fantastic to locate some old photographs of the Preston Greyhound Stadium, whether from the interior or event the exterior, anything would be a bonus. We are really hoping that this will be seen as a call-out to those who may have something in the way of old photographs stashed away or even some related ephemera. If you do have, then please get in touch with us at contactus@blogpreston.co.uk and we would arrange to digitise whatever you have to publish in the pubic domain.

Did you ever go to a meeting at the Preston Greyhound Stadium and have you any stories of the place? Let us know in the comments below.