Vincent Hinde Collection

Folkestone Racecourse

Earliest meeting: Wednesday 30th March 1898
Final meeting: Tuesday 18th December 2012
The earliest evidence of a desire for racing in the vicinity of the Kent town of Folkestone was in 1896 when the Folkestone Racecourse Company was formed under the Chairmanship of Lord Hardinge and charged with planning the inaugural meeting close to the East Stour river. Within 2 years the first meeting was staged at Westenhanger Park, about 8 miles from Folkestone, on Wednesday 30th March 1898 on a right handed oval course with a run-in of 3 furlongs and a separate 7 furlong sprint course. By 1899 the company was struggling financially, but races continued up to the start of the War. After the Second World War racing resumed, although it was seldom of the high class racing and the location of the course did not lend itself to enormous crowds. In 1963, in line with many courses at the time, Folkestone was threatened with extinction by the withdrawal of Levy Board Funding. However, an appeal by a significant number of local sportsmen enabled the threat to be withdrawn and Folkestone won a reprieve. This should have been a wake-up call for the management to invest in new facilities and update the course. When Arena Leisure took over the running of the course the hope was that the necessary improvements would be made.  In the first decade of the 21st century plans were afoot to develop part of the land on which the racecourse stood and use the money from the project to invest in the racecourse. This did not happen and the course closed on Tuesday 18th December 2012.