What was here?
Until October 2025, this land on Aldridge Road held Perry Barr Stadium: opened in 1929 as the Alexander Sports Ground, home of Birchfield Harriers, and from 1990 a greyhound and speedway track. It is now cleared, with housing proposed.
History
Some of the fastest feet in Britain once ran on Aldridge Road.
Birchfield’s ground
Birchfield Harriers, the athletics club, bought this land in 1926. Their new ground, the Alexander Sports Ground, opened in 1929. For almost fifty years it was the club’s home.
Great athletes trained here. Audrey Brown trained at the ground before winning a silver medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. On 29 May 1954 Diane Leather ran the first mile by a woman in under five minutes here, at Perry Barr.
The ground was used for much more than athletics. There was speedway and cycling, and Aston Villa trained here. In the Second World War it was requisitioned.
A new name and new sports
In 1977 Birchfield Harriers moved to the new Alexander Stadium nearby, and the old ground became Perry Barr Stadium.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
On 16 October 1990 greyhound racing began on the Aldridge Road site. This is not the same track as the older Perry Barr greyhound stadium on Walsall Road, which ran from 1928 to 1984 and whose site is now the One Stop shopping centre. The Aldridge Road stadium was also the home of the Birmingham Brummies speedway team.
The last race
Perry Barr has changed fast in recent years, with regeneration around the area. In July 2025 the Birmingham Dispatch reported that racing would end in August and move to Dunstall Park in Wolverhampton, and that apartments were planned for the site.
The last greyhound meeting took place on 23 August 2025, and the last speedway meeting two days later.
Demolition
The stadium was demolished in October 2025. It did not go quietly in the paperwork. Birmingham City Council stated that “no application for a ‘Prior Notification of Proposed Development’ was received”, and opened an investigation. Notices served under the Building Act covered health and safety only, according to Demolition News, which quoted the council and Councillor Jon Hunt. More than 400 homes are proposed for the site.
A record that stays
The stadium is the newest loss in this collection, and it shows that “lost Birmingham” is not only a story about Victorian halls and bombed markets. Places are still disappearing, and the record of them has to be made while people remember.
The buildings are gone. Diane Leather’s mile is not. On 29 May 1954, in Perry Barr, a woman did what had never been done before.
What happened here?
Birchfield Harriers trained and competed here from 1929 to 1977. Diane Leather ran the first women’s mile in under five minutes here on 29 May 1954. Greyhound racing ran on the Aldridge Road site from 1990 to 2025, and the Birmingham Brummies raced speedway here.
Why it mattered
For half a century this was the home of Birchfield Harriers and a stage for record-breaking athletics, including the first sub-five-minute mile by a woman. For a further generation it was a greyhound and speedway stadium serving north Birmingham. Its demolition in 2025 is a reminder that the city’s heritage is still being lost, not only in the past.
Why it disappeared
Redevelopment
Racing ended in August 2025 as part of the regeneration of Perry Barr, with apartments planned for the site (Birmingham Dispatch, 19 July 2025). The stadium was demolished in October 2025; the council said no prior notification application had been received and opened an investigation (Demolition News, 12 November 2025).
What’s there now
What replaced it
Cleared land awaiting housing; more than 400 homes are proposed.
What survives
Nothing of the stadium is known to survive on site. Aerial photographs of 1937 and 1950 (Aerofilms) and later photographs record it.
Today
The Aldridge Road site has been cleared and awaits redevelopment for housing.
Key dates
- 1929 — Alexander Sports Ground opensBirchfield Harriers open their new ground on Aldridge Road, Perry Barr, later known as Perry Barr Stadium.
- October 2025 — Perry Barr Stadium demolishedWeeks after the last races in August 2025, Perry Barr Stadium is demolished; the city council says no prior notification application was received and opens an investigation.
Sources and further reading
Opening: the ground is usually said to have opened on 27 July 1929, after the land was bought on 11 November 1926; these exact dates come from Wikipedia, and the Birmingham Dispatch gives 1926, probably the land purchase. The text says bought in 1926 and opened in 1929.
The dates of the last greyhound and speedway meetings (23 and 25 August 2025) come from Wikipedia; the Birmingham Dispatch confirms racing was to end in August 2025. Diane Leather’s run is recorded by Wikipedia and mentioned by the Birmingham Dispatch.
The claim that the ground was built on a former fly-ash tip from a local power station rests on Wikipedia alone and is left out.
The fate of the Art Deco relief on the stadium front is disputed between sources and is not covered here until it is confirmed with Birchfield Harriers or the city council. The exact position of the stadium should be checked against aerial imagery of the cleared site.
- Old digs, new tracks: the end of Perry Barr stadium — Dan Cave, Birmingham Dispatch, 2025
- Demolition dogged by officialdom — Demolition News, Demolition News, 2025
- The Stadium That Slipped Through the Cracks — Mike Olley, Midlands Grit, 2025
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