Greyhound "racing" was connected with Belle Vue throughout its history.  The piece of land that became the Belle Vue Gardens was used as a hare coursing field.  Then in the early 1920s Charles Nunn, an American, enlisted the help of a British coursing judge in introducing greyhound racing to the country.  This led to William Gentle, the Managing Director of Belle Vue, to assisting raising the funding needed to form the Greyhound Racing Association.  The Association took out a seven year lease on an old brickfield at the northern end of Kirkmanshulme Lane and a stadium was built on it which opened on July 27th of 1926.