The celebrity is “not looking forward” to the city’s future after it was bulldozed

The self-styled ‘Black Country Girl’ who campaigned to save Dudley Racecourse says she is not looking forward to the town’s future. Comedian Marlene Watson has spent a lifetime making the most of her heritage to entertain thousands, but her latest performance has left her feeling disappointed.

After speaking at the public inquiry into plans for a new university in Dudley, to be built on the site of the now-demolished Hippodrome, Marlene resigned herself to losing the theatre. She said: “The public now feel beaten, they saw what happened to Dudley and there was nothing they could do about it.

“It happened right before their eyes, the market, the police station, things done against public opinion.” The entertainer, who was close friends with the late Tommy Mundon and many other Black Country entertainers, accepts the authorities followed the letter of the law but says it is not enough.

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She said: “They did what they should, public opinion and consultation, it meant nothing; so far the people of Dudley can’t get excited about anything. “If they could have seen a newly designed Dudley racecourse with big shows and a tube station right outside, would they have been excited about it? Would they have bought their families? He certainly would have.”

Dudley Council says £1bn of investment is planned for the borough, including a new £4m leisure upgrade in Dudley town centre. In March, the authority announced that the former museum would become a hospitality and leisure venue, while an office block next to the Old Glasshouse restaurant in Priory Street is to be turned into a boutique hotel.

Leader of Dudley Council, Councilor Patrick Harley, said: “Dudley Entertainment Quarter will be a fantastic addition to the regeneration program for Dudley town center and people will be delighted to see how the work preserves and enhances some of the original features of two historic buildings. ” The racecourse closed for good in 2009 and was demolished in 2023, after a long campaign to save it and four unsuccessful attempts to bring it back to life as an entertainment venue.

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Ms Watson accepts the theater is gone and welcomed the chance to make her views known at the public inquiry on May 14. She said: “My passion and respect for Dudley – I loved the town – I’m afraid it’s gone. I feel helpless now, we can’t undo any of their wrongdoing, so I’m afraid I’m not looking too far into Dudley’s future and all those pies in the sky.

“You shouldn’t look back, but I enjoy looking back at Dudley more than I expected before. “Hopefully I’m wrong and something wonderful will happen, but I don’t know.”

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