STUNNED staff were told last night that Bolton's famous dog track is to close after 69 years.

The Bolton Greyhound Racing Company Ltd in Manchester Road intends to stop trading on December 31.

Sixty workers - 13 full-time and 47 part-time - will be made redundant and the town will lose a major local institution which has entertained punters for generations.

The track, which opened in December 1927, appears doomed even though the future of a major leisure scheme on the site is still unresolved.

Staff were informed at last night's meeting that they would lose their jobs in the next few months.

Consultations with elected employee representatives are due to start soon.

The mood at the track last night was one of anger - and resignation.

One greyhound owner, who did not want to be named, said: "It's a disgrace. None of us believe it isn't possible to make a profit here." Some of the owners, trainers and punters have been going to the track for 40 years and more.

"There is a community here which is being destroyed," one regular said.

Company chairman Brian Rodden said today: "The reason for closure is the dramatic decline in attendance suffered by the whole greyhound industry."

He said that in the five years he had been at the track attendances during the week had fallen from over 500 to just 300 and Saturday crowds were now 500 compared with more than 800.

"This company made a loss of £30,000 in 1994/95 and £70,000 last year," Mr Rodden said.

"We cannot sustain these losses, especially bearing in mind that stock car racing will cease on December 29."

Mr Rodden said the "terrible" decision to close had been taken with "great regret and disappointment."

The business was "non-viable". Bolton's demise appears to be part of a national trend which has already seen the closure this year of tracks at Cradley Heath, Ramsgate and Sittingbourne.

Survivors, including Belle Vue, Manchester are currently lobbying the Government to help greyhound racing by reducing betting duty by one per cent in November's Budget.

Mr Rodden said that since the advent of the National Lottery, totalisator turnover for the sport had fallen from £90 million to £70 million.

The London-based Raven Group wants to build a £13 million leisure scheme - to include a 12-screen cinema and 2,000-seat bingo hall - on the site of the Bolton track.

Bolton councillors have approved one plan which includes shops, but the Government has "called in" the application and a public inquiry has been fixed for next June or July. Raven, meanwhile, has submitted another application which does not have a retail element and discussions are taking place behind the scenes to see if councillors can consider it before next summer.

The company is refusing to give up the fight in spite of Warner Brothers' decision to open a 12-screen cinema in the Bolton Wanderers sports village at Horwich and Virgin boss Richard Branson's commitment to a 15-screen multiplex at the Watersmeeting family leisure park in the Tonge Valley, Bolton.

Raven says it also hopes to build an alternative multi-purpose stadium in Bolton for greyhound racing, stock cars and speedway.

But punters and other observers believe this is increasingly unlikely to happen.

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