Greyhound racing was big business when Dougie Tyler took his first bet as a bookmaker at Walthamstow dog track in 1946. More than 50 bookies and their tic-tac men lined the track, standing so close that they could feel the sand kicked up by the passing dogs on the back of their necks.

Winston Churchill, Lana Turner and Gracie Fields were proud to be seen alongside thousands of East Enders who flocked to the stadium on a Saturday night. But times have changed and the Stow will open its traps for the last time on August 16 before handing the East London stadium to a property developer in a deal estimated to be worth £30 million.

The track has been run by the Chandler family since William Chandler set up the business in 1933, but his grandchildren say that dog racing is no longer a viable business.

Mr Tyler, who will celebrate his 90th birthday this year, witnessed his fellow bookies depart one by one over six decades until only six rivals remained to compete for his customers.

Mr Tyler, dapper in a dark suit and patterned tie, recalled the days when gangsters would patrol the track in the hope of extorting money from winning bookies.

“There was Eric the Horse, the local villain,” he said. “He was called Horse because he was as strong as one. It was 1947. He was drunk and he came up to me and said, ‘Give me £3’. My grandfather told me that you should never give money to anyone because they would know you were soft and would come back for more, so I refused. He opened his coat and he had a knife. He said, ‘I’m going to cut your ears off, I am’. I thought, if the knife comes out, I’m gone. I’m going to run for my life. He was a nasty, nasty piece of work.”

Fortunately, Long Ted, his tic-tac man who was 6ft 7in and “skinny as a rake” stepped in. “He said: ‘If you don’t go away, I’ll make you a f***ing dwarf’.”

Despite attempts by small-time gangsters, prominent crime figures such as the Kray twins did not concern themselves with dog racing.

Mr Tyler hesitates to describe it as a sport of gentlemen but, he says, it attracts a better class of punter than football. The dog crowd are wonderful, even though there’s money involved. You get the odd bit of shouting but it’s always over in a minute. They’ll just tear up their tickets and walk away.”

The Stow continues to attract celebrities from time to time. Brad Pitt attended as a guest of Vinnie Jones when he was filming Snatch, one of Guy Ritchie’s gangster films. David Beckham was a “potboy” at one of the trackside restaurants. “He used to go around collecting the empty glasses,” Mr Tyler recalls.

Charles Chandler, William’s grandson and chairman of the stadium, said that the family was dismayed to be selling up but the business had been crippled by the loss of tax advantages for trackside betting.

Turnover at the “Micro Tote” betting windows has sunk from £13.4 million in 2001 to £8.8 million last year. The abolition of general betting duty in 2001 ensured that gamblers gained nothing from betting with on-site bookies, who had enjoyed an exemption from the tax, and moved their business to online betting exchanges.

The halcyon days for trackside betting were in 1989, when almost £17 million passed through the barred Tote windows, the equivalent of £30 million today. At its height, greyhound racing had 56 courses in Britain registered with the National Greyhound Racing Club and a similar number of “flapper” tracks licensed by local councils. There will be 29 when the Stow closes.

Mr Tyler does not know what he will do with himself when racing ends. His 62 years of calculating and adjusting odds have kept his brain active and he feels 20 years lift from him as he makes his way from the car park to his pitch. “I park my car as a 90-year-old, and when I come down here I’m 70. If I make money, I stay 70 until I get back home. I’ll miss it.”

Best of breed

— Ballyregan Bob is arguably the greatest greyhound racer, winning 41 out of 47 races and never at odds of more than 4-9

— 20 licensed stadiums have closed in the past ten years

— 100,000 people attended races at White City Stadium in the 1950s

— Mick the Miller was the most famous dog to run at Walthamstow. He was the first dog to win the English Greyhound Derby twice, in 1929 and 1930

Sources: Times research

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