Manchester Bookie Fred Done to Turn Manchester Racecourse into an “Urban Village”

Elsewhere on this site you can read more detail about Castle Irwell, which was once considered to be Manchester’s answer to the likes of Aintree Racecourse and Haydock Park Racecourse, both of which are to be found on the outskirts of Liverpool. There has been no such course in the Manchester area since the 1960s, but it now seems that Mancunian bookmaker, Fred Done, is going to turn the area into something of an ‘urban village’, with housing, a supermarket and a new primary school all on offer. It was the location of student housing for a time, but has sat largely empty since they stopped being occupied in 2015.

Castle Irwell’s Racecourse

There was a time when thousands of people headed to Castle Irwell, eager to see some horse racing and maybe place a bet or two. Manchester Racecourse’s history is a complicated one, having begun life at Barlow Moor before moving to Kersal Moor and then eventually across the river to Castle Irwell. Racing began there in 1847 when John Fitzgerald took on a 20-year lease for the ground and built a course in a meander of the river. Its location meant that it was boggy and damp, often seeing mist descend on it. The Going was usually Heavy, but racing there was popular, the grandstand able to welcome more than 1,000 people.

When Fitzgerald died, the lease for the racecourse went to his son, also called John, who objected to horse racing for ‘just and Christian reasons’, resulting in the course’s closure in 1867. When John Fitzgerald junior died, a race committee bought the Castle Irwell site and set about building sports facilities there in order to ensure the return of racing. The course saw events return on the Easter weekend of 1902, lasting until 1963 when the Goodbye Consolation Plate was the last race run, won by Lester Piggott. More than 20,000 people turned up to see the course off, which was the last time that horse racing officially took place in Manchester.

Becoming Student Housing

After the final race took place in 1963, the majority of the Castle Irwell was put up for a sale. The University of Salford was opposed to the idea of it being sold to a property development company, wanting to buy it itself. That was a move that the City of Salford supported, keen to use part of the site as playing fields for the public. As a result, the University of Salford spent £46,000 buying the site and the majority of the buildings on it for £46,000. A university student village was built, the Members’ Stand maintained and turned into an entertainment venue known as ‘the pavilion’, run by the University of Salford Students’ Union.

It closed in 2010, with the student village itself closing five years later at the end of the 2015 academic year. In 2016, an attack on the former racecourse stand by arsonists resulted in it being seriously damaged. A few months prior, work had begun on a scheme to create a flood basin and nature reserve, costing £11.75 million. It was to be combined with playing fields on the north side of the area to add more to the River Irwell flood defence system that was already in place. It was completed in 2018, seeing a flood basin and wetland covering most of the site, but that wasn’t to be the end of the Castle Irwell tale in Manchester.

Fred Done Buys the Site

Bookmaker Fred Done began his career in the industry working at Manchester Racecourse. After gaining some experience, he and his brother Peter used money that they had won betting on England to win the World Cup in 1966 to open their first betting shop, which was just a few hundred yards away from the site on Cromwell Road. As a result, it was always felt that Done had a close association with the racecourse, so when he found out that it was for sale and that planning permission had already been granted for the building of around 500 homes on the 36-acre site, looking to buy it seemed like the most obvious move.

When it went out to tender, Done’s company competed with some major builders and paid the top market price in order to secure it. The plan is for it to be family homes, with some costing £150,000 and some going up to £350,000, with a primary school and a budget supermarket like Aldi or Lidl on site. Done’s development company, Salboy, and his construction firm, Domis, will be responsible for building the houses on the new estate, with the name of the roads and other locations around Castle Irwell being given over to the likes of former jockeys and racehorse trainers who worked at the racecourse when it was open.

Some Buildings Remain

It isn’t just the land that is being transformed at the site of the old racecourse. There are some buildings that remain standing, such as the turnstile buildings, which are Listed and will be converted in order to get the most out of them. The wetlands project nearby will serve to protect the homes that are built, whilst wildlife is thriving there. It is essentially like an inner-city country park, complete with walkways that wind their way through it that will be nice for the residents to be able to use. With the turnstile buildings being all that are left of the old racecourse, Done has said he’ll ask the people want they want them to be turned into.

It was initially used as a marketing suite for the building development, having been restored in just 23 weeks. The building was stripped out, exposed and then repaired, with the oak roof trusses and original roof tiles used in the re-build. When the uni was using the site, the turnstile buildings were used for the likes of laundry area and shops, but it will be up to local residents to decide what they become moving forwards. It is now the last remnants of the old racecourse, save for a plaque commemorating it that can be found as part of the park in the middle of the development. Done has restored an area he once loved.