Kentish Express Ashford & District
Sports ground past
football for nearly 90 years and greyhound racing for just over a decade.
The first race meeting was held in 1976 but it closed in April 1988 before its reputation could really take off as the football club had agreed to sell up and move across town.
The modern Gallagher Stadium is a 4,200 capacity ground which opened in July 2012.
Between 1988 and 1992, Maidstone had played at Dartford’s Watling Street stadium after selling the Athletic Ground.
The club reformed in 1992 after going bust and moved back to Maidstone, playing at the old training ground in London Road.
The club returned to the town and the Gallagher Stadium after years of delays getting it ready and built. Agreements were in place in 2004, but United still needed to sign a deal with the Ministry of Defence. Finally, in September 2011, work started on the new stadium and the club’s first game was the following July.
Cheriton Road, Folkestone - Folkestone Cricket Club and Folkestone Invicta FC Despite hosting more than 100 first-class cricket matches, relatively few pictures show cricket at Cheriton Road.
The ground - now known as the Three Hills Sports Park - is still home to Folkestone Cricket Club. But the old brick pavilion is long gone, having been replaced in 2013 by a multi-million pound structure.
Cheriton Road is also home to Folkestone Invicta
FC, with stands backing onto the cricket ground, and Folkestone Optimists Hockey Club.
The Angel Ground, Tonbridge - Tonbridge Angels FC
The Angel Ground in Tonbridge is now the site of a shopping complex and a huge Sainsbury’s.
Up until 1980, the ground located in the heart of the town would have been the destination for hundreds of spectators. But the Vale Road venue was knocked down when the council wanted to develop the shopping centre.
Despite a High Court fight, the battle was lost and the Angels were offered a new ground, Longmead Stadium on the northern side of town.
Like many other grounds, The Angel was home to Kent cricket.
It was badly damaged in the Second World War as it was used by the army to park vehicles and store ammunition.
Kingsmead Stadium, Canterbury - Canterbury City FC and Canterbury Crusaders speedway
Opened in 1958, the stadium next to the River Stour was home to Canterbury City FC and the Canterbury Crusaders speedway team.
The ground started hosting speedway matches 10 years after Canterbury’s first football game in 1958.
In 1977, the stadium owners faced a legal battle with residents about noise complaints.
The Crusaders folded in October 1987 when the city council refused to renew the lease on the ground for racing.
Greyhound racing also started earlier that year but proved difficult to get going due to problems with the track bedding in. Racing stopped in 1995 and the stadium was demolished after it closed in 1999. It is now a housing estate.
Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown and Lydden Hill, near Dover - motor racing Previously home to the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Brands Hatch is one of the country’s most popular circuits with drivers.
Although F1 has not been hosted since 1986 - when Nigel Mansell wowed crowds to take the chequered flag - stars have appeared at the track on regular occasions. Testing has taken place at the track by teams since and the Brabham Straight and Paddock Hill Bend are some of the most iconic views in world motorsport.
Mansell returned to the scene of his famous 1986 victory in
1994 with the Williams team as he prepared for his F1 comeback season.
Lydden Hill is a hugely popular venue and hosts World Rally Cross races. It came to life in 1955 when Bill Chesson from Sittingbourne bought the land and opened a grass track and stock car racing circuit. Among the future stars to have competed at Lydden include Barry Sheene, Carl Fogarty,
James Hunt and Damon Hill.
BBC’s Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond also filmed at the track in 2015.
Folkestone Racecourse horse racing
Now a shell of its former glory, this was the premier horse racing venue in Kent. It hosted dozens of meets every year and the jump course was popular with fans in Kent and riders alike.
The small track couldn’t keep pace with its larger competitors elsewhere in the South East and fell into disrepair with racing ending in
2012. It is now at the heart of plans by Folkestone and Hythe District Council to develop a 12,000-home garden town called Otterpool Park.
Rochester Stadium greyhound racing
The former greyhound circuit was built near Rochester Airport off City Way.
The track opened on June 1,
1936 and was the 55th to gain a licence that year. It had two grandstands, a stand at the first bend and snack bar on the fourth bend and a tote indicator between the third and fourth.
Although a relatively small track, business peaked in 1946 when turnover hit £1.2m. The stadium closed in 1979 to much surprise and was sold off to developers.
It is now a housing estate called Cloisterham Park, which is off City Way in Rochester and backs onto the Warren Wood Estate.
Central Park, Sittingbourne - Sittingbourne FC, speedway and greyhound racing
Sittingbourne FC relocated to Central Park in 1990 after developers offered £4.2m for their Bull Ground home in the town centre.
The club invested the sale in the venue and built a ground with a 2,000-seat stand, hospitality boxes, restaurant and bars. Despite the multi-million windfall from the sale of the Bull Ground, the club had overspent by another £1 million.
It plunged the club into financial crisis and was forced to sell the stadium with the local council taking charge and leasing back to the football club.
But the club then could not afford rent and started playing on the training pitch next door before moving to Woodstock Park in 2012. Kent Kings Speedway still host matches at the track and it remains the county’s largest greyhound stadium.