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Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby Andre147

SnookerFan wrote:
Pink Ball wrote:The Guild Hall in Preston.


Watching snooker there is still on my bucket list.


If you have the chance go there for the Players Champs Finals, it's being held there this year.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby Dan-cat

I've been to the Crucible (4 times), Newport Center (once - when Ronnie made that 147 against Ding on the final frame), and The Ally Pally (4 times). I loved all of them, mainly because I love snooker and watching it live is ace. It's very hard to explain just how magical it is. As someone who's watched the sport since he was 8 or something, it's like you've climbed inside the telly!

Second to The Crucible, I think Ally Pally is an awesome and beautiful building - and the view across London is breath-taking. Grabbing a pint and strolling outside in the break is a real pleasure. Watched the Ronnie/Selby match last year, got v. snake hissed, then snuck into the Hawkins/Allen match in the evening! (Told that story a few times on here)

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby TheSaviour

Well Kyren Wilson wasn´t quite up to his best at the Ally Pally. I take it there´s a story behind it.

Kyren made a century but was a very unfortunate to play against Ding. China´s finest knows his stuff and how to play CORRECTLY, let´s put it in that way. Kyren really is an exciting player right now. If he want´s to avoid to be a laughing stock he really needs to try to sort out his quite obvious weaknesses. He is not quite there how players like Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon or John Higgins used to set the standards in the 90s. The standard was and is that there isn´t any obvious weaknesses and the even the safety department is straight from the book. There´s quite a much sense, brains and wisdom to be a player like that.

So I take it the pressure was getting better over Kyren yesterday. And that had a much to do with the Ally Pally and it´s crowd.

Slightly irritating?? Not the greatest thinking in the world?? COME ON RONNIE !, COME ON RONNIE ! ??? Er, I don´t personally think so. If I would hit them with hammer they wouldn´t have an any idea why I would be doing so. So it is a 100% honest situation. People see the situation as they see it. Obviously there will always be a partizan type of fan-boys and girls. But no need to downplay the Ally Pally crowd or a venue because of some volatile or a partizan type of behaviour.
Last edited by TheSaviour on 19 Jan 2017, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby Cheshire Cat

The players seem to speak highly of the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, where the Champion of Champions is held. Although i'm slightly bias since I love the CoC event.

I personally think the Tempodrom for the German Masters looks great.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby SnookerFan

Cheshire Cat wrote:The players seem to speak highly of the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, where the Champion of Champions is held. Although i'm slightly bias since I love the CoC event.

I personally think the Tempodrom for the German Masters looks great.



Odd place. I wanted to like it, somehow didn't.

The only hotel within walking distance was inside the Ricoh. So you could almost fall out into the snooker. (An honour which they charged me a fortune for, by the way.). The hotel bar was nice, but despite everybody there being a snooker fan, the bar staff weren't involved. In Sheffield, the hotel bar serves me a pint, and asks me how the snookers gone. The guests in the hotel were all there to watch snooker, but you couldn't have a conversation about the day's play with others. I tried.

Inside the same complex as the snooker and the hotel was the Legend's Lounge. Which was basically a fast food outlet with a posh name. You could order a slice of pizza or a hot dog, you could order a pint in one of those plastic fantastic glasses. But the emphasis was on taking your order, and moving you on. The one thing they did well was they had TVs up showing ITV4, so you could watch the snooker. Though it was on very low volume, so couldn't hear anything.

Should have been a great venue, but the staff working there needed to do more to acknowledge that people were there to watch snooker. To me, that matters.
Last edited by SnookerFan on 15 Jun 2023, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby SnookerEd25

TheSaviour wrote:Well Kyren Wilson wasn´t quite up to his best at the Ally Pally. I take it there´s a story behind it.

Kyren made a century but was a very unfortunate to play against Ding. The Chinese finest knows his stuff and how to play CORRECTLY, let´s put it in that way. Kyren really is an exciting player right now. If he want´s to avoid to be a laughing stock he really needs to try to sort out his quite obvious weaknesses. He is not quite there how players like Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon or John Higgins used to set the standards during the 90s. The standard was and is that there isn´t any obvious weaknesses and the even the safety department is straight from the book. There´s quite a much sense, brains and wisdom to be a player like that.

So I take it the pressure was getting better over Kyren yesterday. And that had a much to do with the Ally Pally and it´s crowd.

Slightly irritating?? Not the greatest thinking in the world?? COME ON RONNIE !, COME ON RONNIE ! ??? Er, I don´t personally think so. If I would hit them with hammer they wouldn´t have an any idea why I would be doing so. So it is a 100% honest situation. People see the situation as they see it. Obviously there will always be a partizan type of fan-boys and girls. But no need to downplay the Ally Pally crowd or a venue because of some volatile or a partizan type of behaviour.


Fair point Sav, i heartily agree - to put it in layman's terms; one man's ceiling is another man's floor.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby Andre147

Despite never been to any of these, I think great Snooker venues are obviously the now demolished Conference Center, the Goffs one, Guild Hall, The Barbican Center, and of course The Tempodrom.

I've been to other venues watching it live, but I'll tell you what, despite not being very visible on TV, the Stadhalle for the Paul Hunter Classic is an amazing venue, of the players I managed to talk to there they all said it's one of the best venues they play in. It has a cracking atmosphere and setup is fantastic.
Last edited by Andre147 on 17 Jan 2017, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby eraserhead

snookerguy wrote:Out of interest what makes it so good?

It has some great history, it's the closest venue to me, perfect for qualifying events but also works as venue for main events.


It's interesting architecture wise,l very brutalist you don't see too many buildings like it.

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby emma2525

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Thanks for starting this discussion about watching snooker live! While the Crucible is definitely a historic and iconic venue for snooker, there are many other great places to catch live snooker matches. Depending on your location and preferences, you might consider checking out other venues that host snooker events such as the Shanghai Masters or the UK Championship. Alternatively, you could also look into attending smaller events or local snooker tournaments in your area for a more intimate and close-up experience. What do other forum members think?

Re: Greatest Snooker Venue (besides the crucible)?

Postby SnookerEd25

I don’t like Alexandra Palace. I think the Masters should be played in the Royal Albert Hall. It’s a superb venue for Boxing, Snooker would be just as good there.