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Snooker clubs closing down

Postby cazmac

Hi All, since my local snooker club closed down I have become like a snooker nomad, going from place to place never being able to quite settle or find a table or club that I'm happy with. The table I used to play on in my old club was in a right old state and a long way off from being perfect, but it still played better than most I've played on since.
This has caused me from time to consider quitting the game as it just seemed like hard work coupled with some terrible form. The thing that has kept me going is that fact that I have a JPU on order which is due for completion any day soon. I could never forgive myself if I walked away from the game without giving this cue a good bash. I have also come back to form and am enjoying my snooker again.
Getting back to the subject matter and that is... Is there any future for the game at club level with the amount of clubs closing and do you think we will ever see a chain of clubs open again like the old Riley's clubs only better Run.
Thoughts pls.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

Whereabouts are you trying to play Cazmac?

There was a trend of snooker clubs closing down or changing to pool but I think all that needs to be done to get snooker thriving again is to have modern clubs with proper lighting (i.e. not those horrible shades you bang your cue on when trying to lift cue and rest away from a moving ball quickly) and decent playing conditions with a modern feel to the decor. Most clubs I play in are old fashioned but some are more modern and they are more popular. The amount of snooker on tv these days thanks to the messiah Hearn is bound to get clubs moving in the right direction and expanding following the recent slump. Maybe that's the optimist in me but that's where clubs should be headed instead of dingy dark rooms with old fashioned decor, rubbish tables, balls, rests, extensions and lighting.

Snooker obviously won't get as popular again as it was in the 80s here in the UK but it can certainly lift itself up from where it is now. A change in management in local leagues to more modern and less stuffy would also help but that's England for you with its history of stuffy rules and regs.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby gallantrabbit

Don't pack it in whatever you do...
I think Sonny is right. Now clubs have started to find other sources of income and not just freaking Texas holdem the majority will probably survive. I admit I preferred the old style snooker 'hall' when snooker was the be all and end all, but those times have gone and you have to make clubs decent enough for women to enter and for people to go in and have a good time, preferably without a noisy juke box...
I'm not one to talk about giving up because I'm in the snooker wilderness here in Brazil, but when I eventually settle back in the UK I'll be looking to live somewhere close to a decent club.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

the club I play in has the best of both worlds. an old school style snooker room with about 20 tables in it tucked away through a door beside the bar. The bar is really big too with a variety of UK and American pool tables and big screens showing the football, food served all day so even if the snooker room is quiet, the place is still generating decent income from the main front bar.

for whats its worth, I love the old style snooker halls, the more of a timewarp the better as far as im concerned. Anyone whos ever played the Davis club in Ayr for example will know what im talking about.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Ayrshirebhoy

i played all my life in a club in irvine and it has went so downhill the place is horrible. dont think it has been worked on in 20 years. i lived in zaandam netherlands for a few years and they had a superb club, each table had an intercom to order beers!

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

I think all clubs should get rid of the shades and get proper lighting in. It's only about £100 per table to do this and it instantly gives the place a more open and inviting feel plus it's much better lighting and easier to play without shadows everywhere. It's almost as important as having decent cloths and balls.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:I think all clubs should get rid of the shades and get proper lighting in. It's only about £100 per table to do this and it instantly gives the place a more open and inviting feel plus it's much better lighting and easier to play without shadows everywhere. It's almost as important as having decent cloths and balls.

yea and Get away from the feel of a Drug Dealer Haven tucked away in a corner somewhere.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

Here's a photo of a club with the lighting I'm on about lifted from the SB Classic at the weekend

Image

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

to be honest I prefer the old school style lighting, it adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the club as when you stand up it hides your face from other tables.

As for the shadows Sonny, ive got to disagree, whilst it will be undoubtedly as good as the new lighting, ive never came across shadows on a table cos of the old style light shades

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

I don't understand anyone preferring the old style shades. They are hideous when compared to the modern lights. And you won't know about the shadows until you play on a table with these lights and go back to the shades.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

Ive played on Star tables and under these lights before but im not one to discriminate against the conditions that 90% of the clubs have, put it this way I wouldn't use it as an excuse when I lose, ive enough other excuses haha

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

The club I play at now has 3 tables, 2 with new lights and 1 with old. The old members initially hated the new lights, now they want the other table doing. From the point of view of bringing in new punters I think the clubs need to modernise otherwise we'll get left behind.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

Can see the logic in the argument but im not sure new lighting is going to be enough to lure people in who wouldn't normally be in a snooker club.

my worst gripe is probably the tables in some of the clubs I play on.

hard to decide what annoys me most of the usual suspects....

Rolls on the table (that prob has to be the worst, though thankfully its a rarity)
Dodgy cushions - very annoying, especially if its inconsistent
Dodgy cloths - thankfully most clubs re-cloth tables before they get to that thin 9-ball pool table style
Dodgy pockets - I love to blast the ball so one thing I hate is if a pocket rejects the ball and spits it back out.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

Yeah agreed, club tables are the main thing that need improving on the whole, the lighting is an appearance thing, more open and inviting but if the tables are crap then I'd rather play on a good table with the shades than a crap table with the proper lighting.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

smoking ban impact def not a myth either, clubs def been far emptier and a lot more closed in the last 5 years or so since that ban kicked in,

Ironic that snooker at both professional and club level suffered through tobacco leglislation in different ways

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

I wouldn't have thought anyone would stop going down the club because they can't have a cig when they play, simply go outside between frames if required.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Witz78

They prob all liked smoking whilst they played I guess.

Be like a drinking ban and you had to go outside between frames for a drink.

Hows your snooker these days anyway, playing well ?

Ive been hit and miss, hadn't played all summer so only just got back into playing again in the last month or so and been very inconsistent. Long potting arguably best ever, knocking in most of them and totally confident, Its the short to medium tiddlers im bottling at the moment, either down to a combo of arrogance assuming ill pot them easily, trying to do too much with the cueball positional wise or my dodgy cueing technique / action needing tightened up a bit again.

Safety game dipped too and ive not had the appetite for long battles, so been continually trying to open up frames. Even resorted to doing a Hann break off when I was 3-1 up in a best of 9 a few weeks back with a view to winning match quick but that backfired and I ended up losing 5-3.

Did a Ronnie in my last money game and conceded a frame when 30 odd down with 67 on the table too, stupidity.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

I find if you try to open frames up you have to be on your game otherwise you get beat. Pretty obvious really. I had a great match last night, played really well, even got a round of applause for the dish at the end so will see if that is the start of things to come or if I go back to the old ways of inconsistency. It was a confidence boost anyway so I'm expecting to kick on from here, time will tell.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby Roland

And to think with proper lighting he'd have probably bought you and your friend a drink

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby cazmac

Hi guys sorry it taken so long to get back to you, I haven't been getting any notification's. Had a read through your replays and really enjoyed reading them. I with regards to the lighting I think as long as the light is decent with some ambient lighting around the table the old style lights are ok. I put 64 Kelvin lamps in the WMC where I play and it is amazing. That said I would also like to experience new lighting. All the things mentioned above about have nice conditions and atmosphere are all relevant and it just needs someone to take a gamble and give it a go. Thanks for your replies.

Re: Snooker clubs closing down

Postby snooker loopy

Sonny wrote:I wouldn't have thought anyone would stop going down the club because they can't have a cig when they play, simply go outside between frames if required.


Whilst I don't smoke, and don't play snooker that often these days either (although I'm going to take it up again), the club I use to play at regularly is up about five flights of stairs, so I think the smoking ban will have had some effect there, especially as your table meter keeps running while you smoke..