Grand reopening of Swaffham Raceway kick-starts plans for return of greyhound racing

Greyhound racing looks set to return to town after the grand reopening of a track’s function room.

A special celebration was held on Wednesday evening to mark the grand unveiling of a revamped Swaffham Raceway.

The facility and its bar have been closed for a number of years, with stock car racing – which is externally leased – the only event to be held at the venue.

Now, however, visitors can once again enjoy a drink and hire out the rooms after the raceway’s owner personally funded the refurbishment.

Stewart Bell, the Swaffham mayor, was joined by fellow town councillors at the midweek event to mark the night in style.

Peter Ring, who has been running the function room revamp, is delighted.

“We ripped it back to the bare shell. We’ve plastered, boarded and done everything inside,” he said.

“We’ve put a brand new wooden floor down. Everything is brand new in here – it has a completely new look to it.”

Along with a modern seating area and bar, the toilets and grass running track have also been spruced up.

Mr Ring now hopes that greyhound racing will return to Swaffham as early as next year.

The function room is already proving to be a desirable venue. There are bookings in place for November and December, while it will host a wedding reception in just two weeks time.

The plan is for locals to be hired to help it stay up and running.

“I think there’s been a bit of curiosity from people to see what we have done up here,” Mr Ring added.

“A few came up just to see where we were at with it really. If the greyhounds come back, obviously that’ll be a big plus.

“The function room, we hope, will take off so we can employ extra staff from the town.

“People, as soon as they come in, say ‘wow’. You've got to start somewhere, so we’ve started with this function room and the toilets.”

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