Central Park celebrates bumper start to 2025, with crowds up by more than a quarter year-on-year

Central Park celebrates bumper start to 2025, with crowds up by more than a quarter year-on-year

Central Park Greyhound Stadium is celebrating a bumper start to 2025, with crowd sizes up by 29 per cent year on year for its Tuesday and Saturday evening fixtures. 

The Sittingbourne venue welcomed hundreds more racegoers through its doors during the first quarter of the year, with crowds up during the Easter break too as families and groups of friends enjoyed a night out trackside. 

Highlights since the turn of the year include Garfiney Blaze’s win in the Arena Racing Company Cesarewitch in January while Proper Heiress scooped the £12,500 Arena Racing Company Kent Plate in March. The crowd boost continues Central Park’s positive footfall trend after it recorded a 20 per cent attendance boost during the Christmas period. 

Jon Haile, Duty Manager at Central Park Stadium, said: “We’re really pleased with our attendances this year"

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“We’ve invested significantly into our infrastructure in recent years both on and off the track by committing £500,000 to track improvements and refurbishing our upstairs bar and restaurant facilities to deliver a quality customer experience". 

“Our team on the ground who work hard behind the scenes deserve a great amount of credit for their roles in achieving these figures which we want to continue building on through the summer.”

The footfall boost comes ahead of a busy summer for Central Park, with major events planned on and off the track to help drive more people trackside.

The track will host its biggest Fund-Racer this month with five local sports clubs signed-up to an evening trackside where guests will combine a fun night out with raising funds for their respective club.

Meanwhile, category one racing returns in June with the 71st running of the Arena Racing Company Kent Silver Salver with the £12,500 to the winner competition starting on Saturday, June 7, and climaxing a fortnight later.

Jon added: “Greyhound racing is a fun, family friendly, sport and our ticket prices reflect great value in the present economic landscape.

Tickets start from just £8, so for anyone yet to experience the thrill of the chase and learn more about how wonderful greyhounds are as pets in their retirement we’d love to see you trackside.” 

Central Park’s footfall trend is replicated across its sister venues operated by Arena Racing Company, which include Newcastle, Sunderland, Perry Barr and Nottingham Stadiums. 

Crowd sizes during the Easter holidays were up 48 per cent year-on-year, thanks to ticket bundles, themed events and enhanced local awareness.