Juddernaut88 wrote:SnookerFan wrote:Got an e-mail from York Barbican today.
If you buy an e-mail to the first round of the UK Championship, it's named seats. Not sit where you want.
I was reluctant to buy them a year in advance anyway. Certainly not doing it now. Part of the point of going to the first rounds is being able to see who you like.
Have you been to the Barbican before? How did you find it?
Yes. Three times. But only for the last-128 rounds.
Back when there were four tables upstairs, and four downstairs. It was a good venue then, but looked better for when you could sit down by the sides of the tables. Always a better view that way. When there's four tables, you're sitting from a balcony, watching from a bit further away.
And the four tables downstairs was dreadful. You were watching it in a basketball court, essentially. About 12 seats per table. There was nobody there almost. Weird venue.
The downside is that the hotels were eye wateringly expensive. Possibly more so than The Crucible. The cheapest were about £120 a night. I saw quite a few that were £250 a night. A few that were close to double that. Even places like The Premier Inn and Ibis had gotten more than £100 a night, the traditional budget hotels.
I stayed in a pub a couple of the years. Which were good. Nice cosy rooms, a lot more affordable. The downside was, when the pub closed, to gain access to your rooms, there was a security code to get in. If it didn't work, there was no way to get into the rooms. I used to go for morning and afternoon matches, then be back in the pub for dinner, so as not to risk it. If you were in an evening match, you risked not getting back for pub closing time.
York is a lovely city, but all things considered, I'll go somewhere else where I don't have to book a year in advance.