Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium

I visited Shelbourne Park as part of a group for a night out — It’s a great experience.
You don’t have to place bets on the races if you don’t want to but it’s a lot of fun if you do.
You can eat and drink here, it’s great for birthday or work parties. Awesome!

Une très sympathique expérience. Nous avons passé une soirée (samedi soir) au Shelbourne Park en dinant au restaurant.
Le diner était très bon et avoir la possibilité de parier sur les chiens directement à table (mise minimum d’un euro) est quelque chose de très marrant et on se laisse prendre rapidement au jeu.
Le personnel est très sympathique et nous avons eu la chance de nous retrouver au bord des vitres avec une superbe vue sur la piste.
Comme pour le Guinness Storehouse, n’hésitez pas à vous programmer une soirée au Shelbourne Park, cela vaut vraiment le coup.

My sister decided to have her 21^st birthday bash here. I had never been to the dogs so I was quite excited. We signed up for the 21.50 ticket (program and main course) and I feel this was excellent value for money.
The first floor restaurant is lovely and cosy with a stellar view of the race track. My one complaint is that the menu hasn’t got the best selection in the world, but you’d manage to find something to keep you going. For an extra 5er you can get a starter. I had the goats cheese to start and it was fantastic. I wish it had been offered as a main also. Delicious, with a lovely side of pesto and tomatoes, it was brilliant. ¹⁰⁄₁₀. For the mains I had chicken done with some veg and some spicy sauce. This was okay. I wouldn’t order again but my husband had the steak and it was really lovely.
The dog racing is entertaining and really well done. It’s hard to make any money unless you know what you’re doing, but it really is just a good laugh.
I will definitely be back for seconds!

It’s at the entrance that the trouble starts. A bouncer with an unnaturally large chest is questioning our coherency, sobriety and the general lack of wisdom that a night at the races entails. Worst of all, he wanted us to pay the standard entry price.
«But we MUST be on the guest list. I spoke with my agent this morning who had confirmed the booking.»
«I’m sorry sir, but I don’t see you on here.»
I reach for the bookings list and point at the first name I see.
«Ah, yes. The Unilocal party; that’s the one. It’s an alias we use to avoid revealing our true identities. We don’t like to attract attention, I hope you understand.»
The girl at the admissions desk — unfailingly helpful — agrees to let me in and apologizes for the confusion. I’m not sure if it’s because she genuinely believed this little white lie or she just wanted to get this crazed loon out of her sights. I thank her for the passes and the bouncer lets go of my arm.
«First floor and to the right» she says; but we had already fled. We weren’t here to take directions from just anyone. No, we were after the big ones. We’re going straight to the top. The corporate boxes are the only place to to see where the real betting happens. We’re here to get the first word on who is going to win these races; we’re here to make it big and blow it all on cheap booze and take-​away diners.
The first race has almost started by the time we sneak into a corporate box. In here, there’s one table of bigwigs who are obviously excited about a dog named Groupie Doll; we flag down a betting assistant and place our first bet. With our fortunes guaranteed, we mingle with some of the smaller tables in an attempt to acquire some free wine. Before we even have time to put our feet up, the results of the race come in.
Lolos Spanner, Of Course I Can, Satin Romeo, Isildurs Heir, North Bound, Groupie Doll
It was now certain that we had taken a wrong turn and were in the wrong coroprate box. We apologize to the table for our transgressions, quaff the rest of our wine and leave for the next room.
It’s the same situation in the next box. A table of bourgeois gamblers clearly excited about Ecclestone. Our wallets considerably lighter, but the odds were looking good for this one.
Aclamon Rossi, Tintreach Tully, Totos Treasure, Hillside Royal, Ecclestone
In the next box, we make eye contact with the bouncer from the front desk. No doubt he recognises us, but we try to play it cool and place our next bet. For this one, we don’t even have time to weigh our options — the bouncer has taken issue with our presence and is quickly approaching.
Refuge of Sinner, Airforce Diva, Captain Scolari, Early Oscar, Skerries Road
Soon, we’re trapped in the dining room, where ten Euro covers the cost of admission and a dog burger. Without strict restrictions on who they let in, there is only the most casual betting happening here. No experts, hunches or whispered leads; just amateurs taking wild stabs in the dark.
We take a seat at the bar and contemplate our situation. With the free booze exhausted and barely enough money left to pay for a beer, the only clear thing to do is to play the game.
After all, we got ourselves into this mess. When we arrived, we had nothing to lose. Now, nine races in, everything depends on this one. The great American dream, riding on these last two hundred yards.

I’d never been to the dogs before so was quickly up for signing up to the Unilocal event here.
I’ve been to the races before, so have gambled a bit (but not that often) so I was interested to see how it went.
To be honest I liked it a lot. The races are quicker so you can have 10 races in a couple of hours. Which means you can just have small bets throughout the night quite easily and still enjoy yourself.
The place seemed to be set up quite well and we had a great tote lady who proved that people can still have fun while doing a job and make the punters more comfortable as well!
The Food we had at the table was quite nice for platter type food. Suprisingly edible in fact. Drink prices started at 2.50 for a bavaria as well so pretty good all round.
Add to this we had a couple of winners and went home slightly on top it was a great evening.

Many a great night has been had here in the past, but I’d not been in a long while when a Unilocal event popped up.
Treated royally by the lovely staff here from the waitresses to the lovely tote lady who was on hand to explain how everything worked with the tote betting system. She was a great laugh too, Lorraine was her name (apologies if I got this wrong).
Unilocal sponsored a race too and didn’t number one only go and win! Wearing the Unilocal red to represent the trap the dog was drawn. I really should have picked up on that before the off and backed it. Oh well, hind sight is great when it comes to betting.
That said me and my partner did manage to pick the first three home in another race, so we were in the money, hurrah!
Bavaria was on offer at the bar as well, 2.50 EUR a bottle — happy days.
A lovely night it was, recommended.
PS I love the carpets here, why? Well, you’ll just have to go a long and see (and not look a the pics I’ve added to Unilocal: P)

For an alternative night out, Shelbourne Park might just hit the spot. Having never been to ‘the dogs’, I was excited to see how betting worked. We had an excellent view of the track (I highly recommend getting a table in the restaurant) and so we quickly got competitive. Fortunately we were not the ones running… The food was just fine. It was July 4^th, so perhaps it was not their typical fare (mini hamburgers, chicken kebabs and other usual American grub). Nothing haughty taughty about this place, but to be honest, you are there to watch the races, so food isn’t your main focus. Service was incredible though; all the staff were very friendly, and patient whilst we tried to figure out whether ‘Yeah Buddy’ or ‘Meow’ were more likely to win.
This is the ideal place for staff parties or any group get together that may need the ice to be broken (I went with a bunch of people I didn’t know, and loved it!).
For more reviews see:

I have only been dog racing once before, and came out 40 cent up. So on the basis that I am amazing at gambelling, I jumped at the chance to join Unilocal for the 4^th of July celebrations here. And I was glad i did as a great night was had by all.
The venue itself is clean and airy, with plenty of space both inside and out, and really friendly staff who are happy to help, and very patient with novices such as ourselves! And for added fun, there was a race named for Unilocal,which I lost. Devestatingly.
Food was served during the evening, and came in the form of too cute to eat sliders, hotdogs, skewers and nachos — with a cheese sauce I would have drunk from the the bowl! And as an added bonus, there are bottles of very nice white for only € 17, and a good few excellent value deals were advertised, such as a 10 € night with burger, drink and entry — sure where else would you get that sort of value.
I’d highly recommend it for a night out, but reminder — they’re dogs, not «mini horses»!

I’ve been here a few times, most recently as part of a Unilocal event, and I have always had a really good time. It seems like a great place to go when you’re with a group of people.
This time we were in the upstairs part which is fully inclosed and offers up a comfy and sophisticated area to watch the racing from. Food is available in the form of platers or à la carte menu and it really is delicious! There is also a fully stocked bar which has prices comparable to most bars in town, so no ripoffs here.
The gambling was also really fun. I feel it’s more luck than skill but will 10 races and only 6 dogs in each, even picking blind, you have a good chance of winning. Making a bet is very easy as someone will come to your table before each race to take bets and deliver the inevitable winnings. The staff were also really nice.
Finally, I got to meet one of the dogs and even he looked healthy and happy.

We went along to the Unilocal July 4^th event last night and it was a blast.
I’ve been to Shelbourne Park a couple of times over the years and always had great fun. It can be expensive but that depends on the dogs you pick.
Last night was particularly enjoyable. The food was a buffet of «American» food in honour of our friends across the pond. The min burgers were excellent, and the mini hot dogs were also pretty tasty. Their take on popcorn chicken was a little odd, but went down all the same. The start of the night for food was the chees (ish) dip which went with everything.
Bavaria was on special at 2.50 a bottle which was useful once the Unilocal freebies ran out.
The staff were very friendly and keen to help me lose my money as efficiently as possible.
I was tempted to give 1 star, as whoever writes the tips on the racing card obviously knows as much about dogs as me :-)
I adopted the strategy of backing the tipped reverse forecast in each race, which proved to be expensive as not one of them came close. I’m going back to my old strategy of picking the coolest name, although S_​didn’t fare any better using this system.
There are a number of promotional deals available so excluding the betting you can have quite a reasonably priced evening of fun no matter what your budget.
Just remember, while a dog may always be man’s best friend, you are not always the man in question.
Finally a big thank you to Emily and Unilocal for a great night out, and to the other Unilocalers present for making it so much fun, collectively they get 5 stars.

A great place for a night out. Good food, a good bar, and low stakes gambling make for fun and excitement.

My wife has a system
She does that bet where you choose the same numbers (runner 1, 4 & 7) in every race, I think it costs about 60 Euro for 10 races — something like that.
Not once has she left the place having lost cash, granted we have gone 3 times in about 7 years but that’s the system and it works.
erm… for her. I tried it on a work night out recently; not one frikkin race did I win!
Leaving that aside a night at the dogs can be huge fun, the surroundings are not comfortable or in any way plush, quite the opposite in fact but then I don’t suppose they are meant to be. likewise the food is very middle of the road, but you don’t go dog racing for the cuisine do you?
I’m sure I’ll be back at some point!

Though from near Dublin myself I have only been there once and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I am sure that after the influx of foreign visitors over the years since then that the standards of everything on offer there has been greatly improved. A must do for me next time I get over for a break. Any nice lady like to join me for a good evening out?

Good place especially if you take a table upstairs for the excellent race night meals. Perfect view of all the activity and helpful waitresses take your bets and bring the winnings.

Think of them as little horses. Going to the dogs is a great night out that doesn’t have to cost a fortune, particularly if you have a nose for a winner. The bookies are used to small betters and you needn’t stand in the cold — everything can be done from inside the stadium. Make your bet, get a drink from one of the many bars and watch the race on one of the bank of TV monitors.

i have been to shelbourn park greyhound racing a few times and loved it, it was quiet reasonable… but then i seen these people who photos of how these dogs are treated and it just put me off going. dont know if these pohotos are for real… but it put me right off the place even though i previously enjoyed the excitment of the dogs racing.