Oxford Stadium Set To Reopen

Oxford Stadium, a former greyhound racing and speedway venue in Oxford’s Sandy Lane area, is now set to reopen creating 150 new jobs.

The stadium originally opened in 1939 and attracted around 4,000 people per week at its peak, but suffered a major setback in 2007 when the local speedway team stopped operating, and eventually closed in 2012, resulting in it falling into a state of disrepair.

The new leaseholder, Kevin Boothby, who is aiming to renovate the site with a million pounds investment plan creating a new greyhound track next year has said: "When you come here on a Friday, Saturday night, it will be full. We'll be doing extra, different things here but we will introduce extra leisure facilities here so people are part of this place."

Oxford City Council says it wants this to be a high quality, long term project which provides a boost in jobs.

Regarding the plans, Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, from Oxford City Council, said: “The Council was clear that we wanted to ensure that the site was kept for community and leisure use. We will want to be confident that the operator will be committed to ensuring this is a long term proposal delivering a high quality and accessible venue as well as delivering jobs and training to the local community."