Archive photos show crowds cheer greyhound racing in Hove

But when Brighton and Hove Greyhound Stadium was opened in Nevill Road, Hove, in 1928 it was the next big thing.

This fascinating set of pictures from The Keep archive in Falmer shows cheering crowds at the track in the Thirties and Forties.

In 1912, South Dakota businessman Owen Smith perfected the fake hare lure after years of trial and error.

Thirteen years later the sport was introduced to Britain when American Charles Munn partnered with a First World War flying ace, a retired policeman and a hunting judge from the Greyhound Racing Association.

When the Hove stadium was built in 1928 by Albion chairman Charles Wakeling, another flying ace called Major Carlo Campbell and a third man, Freddie Arnold, the association bought a stake in it.

Stadium staff with greyhounds in 1940. Photo: East Sussex Record Office/The Keep

On June 2 the ground opened, hosting the first Hove Stakes.

Solicitor W G Hooper was the lucky winner, his hound Costs netting him a cool £16 – nearly £500 today.

But for the first ten years the set-up was primitive. The fake hare had to be wound around the course by hand. The stadium did not even have electric lighting until 1938.

A hand-operated tote board for betting, seen below, was installed in 1932.

The tote board in 1938. Photo: East Sussex Record Office/The Keep

But the Government banned tote betting the same year. The owners had to wait until the ban was lifted in 1934 to dust off the cobwebs.

Despite the early hiccups, greyhound racing boomed after the Second World War.

When Mr Wakeling died in 1951, Major Campbell took the top job at Albion and offered to sell the stadium to invest more money in the club in a push for promotion from the Third Division.

But other board members declined to match his bid and the ground remained in his hands until his death in 1958, months before Albion achieved promotion.

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