Supporters took a 15,000-strong petition against the closure to Walthamstow Town Hall, east London.
After 75 years of racing its owners sold the venue to housing developers.
New owner London and Quadrant Housing Trust said: "At the moment our intention is to continue with the development as planned."
The stadium was first opened in 1933 by William Chandler, who started out operating as an illegal street bookmaker.
In addition to its regular fans, it has hosted public figures such as Sir Winston Churchill and actors Lana Turner, Vinnie Jones and Brad Pitt.
But Mr Chandler's grandson Charles said operations had become "unsustainable".
the greyhounds raced around Walthamstow Stadium, in northeast London, for the final time on Saturday night, excitement and sadness went neck-and-neck in the packed stands. Long before the gates opened, hundreds of punters had queued outside the Art Deco frontage of the stadium, known as the Stow. Those gates were soon closed again, the Stow full to its 7,000 capacity. After the final race several hundred fans ran on to the track, taking snapshots and souvenirs. Somebody doing a Kenneth Wolstenholme impression said: “Some people are on the track, they think it's all over. It is now ....”
One of those “pig sick” about the closure was Barrie Clegg, chairman of the local greyhound owners' association. When he met his wife, Debbie, 24 years ago his chat-up line was to ask how close she lived to the dog track. These days they work hard to rehome retired greyhounds, and have been at the fore of SOS, Save Our Stow campaign. Mick Puzey, a trainer, said that the stress had kept him awake at nights and given him “terrible nosebleeds”. He at least got see to his dog, Perceptive Pacey, win the penultimate race. Celebrity dog track is running out of time
The Stow was built in 1933 by William Chandler, a street-corner bookmaker, and had been owned by his family until its sale this year to property developers and a housing association for an undisclosed sum. The decision caused a lot of bad feeling, but the Chandlers point to losses of more than £500,000 for the year ended February 2008. Charles Chandler, the company chairman, said that he was deeply upset, but the business had become unsustainable.
That has done little to mollify those who see the Stow as a public institution. Before the racing began on Saturday, the SOS campaign marched on Walthamstow Town Hall, supported by Neil Gerrard, the local Labour MP and former greyhound-owner, and Ian Duncan Smith, the Conservative MP for nearby Chingford. The campaign hopes to persuade the new owners to sell or lease the track back to a consortium fronted by the trainer Ricky Holloway, but so far this has been ruled out.
The closure of Walthamstow leaves Britain with 29 registered greyhound tracks, and London with only one - Wimbledon. At the sport's postwar peak, 50 million a year packed into 77 tracks. But the shift to betting in shops and online has hit tracks hard. Despite £2.3 billion a year gambled on greyhounds, turnover at the Walthamstow tote fell from £16.85 million in 1989 to £8.76 million last year.
Before the sale was announced three months ago, attendance at the Stow had slumped to a couple of thousand on Saturday and a couple of hundred on a wet Tuesday. Yet in the run-up to its closure, the crowds streamed in, which suggests that there is still life in the old dogs. There were all sorts at the Stow on Saturday night, from dog men to cool cats, and the speakers complained of illegally parked Lamborghinis and Mercedes. The only cloth cap in evidence was worn by the musician Jools Holland.
I did most of my racing at Bedford, which is far more suitable for a lady. Not like all those nasty, rough boys who run at Walthamstow. That's not racing, that's wrestling.I don't know much but I know what I like. I like sardines. Smelly ones, please.
Pah! Posing, Prima Dona Princess! Walthamstow's a proper dog's track; it's not for the namby-pamby pooches of this world.
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