 An increase in the number of people searching for new or alternative forms of entertainment has led to the sport of greyhound racing becoming more widely popular. Greyhound racing now attracts an extensive audience and, these days, "a night at the dogs" is employed as much by business people and organised parties as by bookmakers and the more traditional race goer.
The new breed of race goers are there to enjoy the whole experience and not just for a flutter on the dogs. Their expectations and requirement for comfortable surrounding and high quality food have resulted in many greyhound stadiums investing in upgrading their facilities and improving services.
An investment of over £400,000 has financed the refurbishment of Nottingham Greyhound Stadium, which occupies a six acre site in Colwick Park, Nottingham. The refurbishment project has seen improvements made to all the main public areas of the stadium, including a race view restaurant seating just under 200, and 80 seater snack bar and a further three bars.
Racing at Nottingham takes place three times a week, all year round, and with over 2500 spectators per week, the stadium's requirement for a powerful, quick and efficient system for catering, heating and hot water is high. Catering for large numbers of people during a short period of time puts considerable demands on kitchen equipment and staff, and this is particularly so at Nottingham Greyhound Stadium where a full a la carte menu is offered to race goers.
On a typical race night, the restaurant and snack bar are full to capacity and the kitchens have to cater for around 350 dinners, as well as providing staff meals for up to 80 employees. Such is the nature of a race evening, the restaurant has to provide food for the majority of its guests within a short space of time to allow visitors to eat before the racing starts.
Keith Whittingham, the stadium's technical manager, commented: "In order to provide quality food in the timescales available, we employ highly experienced and efficient chefs. They have very specific catering requirements for a fuel that quickly reaches optimum cooking temperature and is easy to control.
"As the stadium is not supplied by mains gas, we considered the alternative energy options available to us. Appliances powered by electricity are slow to heat up and offer limited controllability, whereas liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) provides instantaneous heat, greater control and reaches cooking temperature very quickly. Cooking on Calor has proved to be efficient and cost effective and the fuel is versatile enough to meet all of our requirements."
Heating at the stadium is provided by a traditional convection system, linked to Calor powered commercial boilers from Hamworthy and Johnson & Starley, with 10 radiators positioned strategically throughout the stadium. Meanwhile, the high volumes of hot water required during race nights are provided reliably and efficiently by a Calor powered direct fired Hamworthy water heater.
 The high energy requirements of the stadium are met by three bulk storage tanks, each with a capacity of four tonnes. The tanks are positioned within the grounds of the stadium and are topped up regularly via Calor's national computerised delivery system, to ensure a continuous power supply.
The refurbishment of Nottingham Greyhound Stadium has enabled Keith and the rest of the stadium's management team to further improve the level of service and facilities already offered to race goers.
The supply of Calor adequately meets the stadium's current energy demands, as well as having sufficient capacity to cater for future developments.
Keith concluded: "We intend to continue the development of the stadium and this will include increasing the size of the restaurant to double its current capacity. We are confident that Calor will easily meet our ongoing requirements, for both catering and heating."
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