History of the Racecourse

In the beginning…1816 in Musselburgh’s case… Racecourses were established essentially as sporting venues for the very rich and the aristocracy – hence the name ‘Sport of Kings’ – to race their horses against one another. They attracted huge crowds but were non-commercial enterprises. Even as recently as the 1950’s, post war Britain was hungry for entertainment and Racecourses offered the only source for a legal bet and attracted massive crowds. At Musselburgh crowds in excess of 15,000 were common place and people were packed in like sardines! Racing was still very much ‘The Sport of Kings’ and Racecourses did not require to be commercially operated.

In 1963 the Government made betting shops legal whilst at the same time competition for the leisure pound began to increase. Attendances went into rapid decline and some Racecourses did go bankrupt including Lanark and Bogside in Scotland. In the 1980’s Musselburgh Racecourse was widely being touted as the next one likely to bite the dust. In 1987 Racecourses received a much needed financial boost when new technology enabled them to sell pictures of races to the betting shops. Without this Musselburgh Racecourse would not be here today.

Going into the 1990’s the Racecourse was still losing money and the future looked desperate. In 1991 a new dawn arrived at Musselburgh when East Lothian Council took the running of the Racecourse back under their umbrella. John Lindsay, who is currently Chief Executive of East Lothian Council, was then Head of Finance and was tasked to bring the Racecourse to a break-even position in one year, which remarkably was achieved, and so once again the Racecourse had a future.

Provost Pat O’Brien and John Lindsay then set up the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee to run the Racecourse which still exists today. The financial situation continued to improve and in 1995 a visionary and very ambitious investment programme was put in place.

This costed £5 million, took 10 years to complete, and included a prestigious new hospitality stand, refurbishment of the Edwardian Grandstand and all public areas, the building of the Links Pavilion housing many essential facilities for customers, weighing room and entrance complexes, a new parade ring and extensive landscaping.

Since 1999 attendances have rocketed from 38,000 to over 70,000 in 2004, and sponsorship, corporate hospitality and prize money have all more than doubled. Today Musselburgh Racecourse is a thriving business and one of Edinburgh and Lothian’s top leisure and sporting venues.