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How much does it cost to play?

Postby chengdufan

In the Snooker Island World Championship, there was some mention of the cost of going to play snooker these days. So I thought it might be interesting for us to share how much we pay to play in various parts of the world.

I had never really given it much thought before, here in Chongqing. I hadn't asked the rates, had just paid whatever they said at the end of the session. Yesterday, I decided to find out the price.
As far as I've seen in China, there are three levels of club people go to. I was in Xi'an for work a few years ago and went to a very fancy place where you get a referee assigned to your table for the duration of your session. Wish I could remember how much we paid for that, but I don't remember it being extortionate. Something like 80 or 100 yuan per hour (about 10GBP).
Then there are the 'street' places, which predominate across China. I've played on some really horrendous surfaces over the years when I haven't been able to find somewhere better. One that sticks in the memory was a table that sank towards the middle. These places tend to be about 10-15 yuan per hour (1.00-1.50GBP)
The club I've been going to recently is a pretty average level. Decent tables, full of smoke, pop music playing in the background. They have one match table, 7 ordinary tables, and 4 pool tables. I've only played on the match table once, when the others weren't available. It is 60 yuan per hour (7 pound-ish). The ordinary tables that I usually play on are 40 yuan per hour. About 4.50 GBP.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby Iranu

chengdufan wrote:I had never really given it much thought before, here in Chongqing. I hadn't asked the rates, had just paid whatever they said at the end of the session.

Mr. Moneybags over here.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby chengdufan

Iranu wrote:
chengdufan wrote:I had never really given it much thought before, here in Chongqing. I hadn't asked the rates, had just paid whatever they said at the end of the session.

Mr. Moneybags over here.

Lol! Sorry. I'm definitely not Mr. Moneybags and would have noticed if the price had jumped out at me. £4.50 (£9 split between two) for a couple of hours entertainment once every few weeks doesn't really register though.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby SnookerEd25

About a fiver an hour for me, split between 2 of us; bottles of Tyskie (optional) are £3.50

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby chengdufan

I started playing at Bolton Snooker Club in the 90s. I might be remembering wrong, but I think it was less than £2 per hour back then. Seemed very cheap at the time. It was similar to the place I go to now in terms of table quality and smoke. I remember you'd get a bollocking if you were talking louder than a whisper around the tables though. And the only light was the table light. Here it's pretty noisy and the lights are bright.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby HappyCamper

nearest to me in edinburgh is about 8GBP/hour for a normal table. (or was the last time i played pool over a year ago). or you can pay 35GBP/hour for the fancy private room.

mainly a pool hall though with a few snooker tables in it.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby HustleKing

Haven't played since 2016 in Ireland (due to distance and lack of interested family and friends), but remember it being about 13.50 euro for an hour back then

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby SnookerEd25

Dan-cat wrote:I think it was £9 an hour at the Hurricane Rooms in Kings Cross. Fabulous club, always newish cloths.


I used to play there; bit rumbly when the trains went past...darn sight nice than the Acton or Tooting ones though

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby acesinc

In the US, there are relatively few public places at which to play snooker at all. There is a website that attempts to maintain a public listing of available equipment, findsnooker.com, and it shows just 388 known snooker tables available in such a large country. Of those, probably half of them are not even truly "snooker" as you know and love. Many will be perhaps a pool table that happens to have a set of snooker balls available. Or common among old timers is a game called "golf" on a large table for which the pockets are set VERY tight, barely wider than a ball width, so not at all suitable for proper snooker. This listing includes mostly public tables plus some (like mine) which are private but potentially open to visitors at the discretion of the venue owner. In reality, there are probably fewer than maybe 50 tables in all of the USA which are of reasonably good quality suitable for proper snooker, and available to anyone. And of these tables, quality and price runs the gamut, but the vast majority of this equipment is in what Chengdufan described at "street places"....shady, run-down, generally low quality and consequential low price. Most of these places will cost about $4 to $6 USD per hour. Often old, worn and torn cloth, chipped and unlevel slates, frequently used by pool players using larger pool balls trying to practice their precision so the netting and leathers are often beat up and torn.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I know of only three, yes you read that right, THREE public venues with more than a single high quality table on site in all of the US which are freely available for public use. I have only been to one of these to date but to the best of my knowledge, their pricing is all pretty similar between $20 and $30 USD per hour. There was a fourth relatively close to me in the Chicago area but it closed down earlier this year. Covid was the final nail in the coffin, but at $20 per hour for a pretty basic set up of three tables of fair quality but not all that well maintained, it had been going downhill since it opened. I visited perhaps a half dozen times in the five years it was open (I have since found out the owner had signed a five year lease....the place was a money pit; I didn't expect him to last a year to be honest) and most of those times, I was the only one in the place.

Also in the US we have several private clubs which always have much better equipment, but of course much more exclusive, charging much higher membership fees. For my set up at ACES, I am more like a low-end private club, no monthly membership fees and the rate is $3 USD per hour per person, maximum $6 USD per hour. I charge per person to encourage solo practice. And if more than two are on table together, they split the $6 per hour fee among them.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby cupotee

I’d only play at the dunstable snooker club now as i wouldn’t be bothered with any compromise from pro tables , haven’t played for three years but used to play at the hurricane clubs kings cross acton and tooting which are all closer to me but wouldn’t look at them now because they don’t have well maintained star xing pai’s , the dunstable club only had two xing pai’s when i last played there in 2017 , apparently they’ve got five now , the club deserves a plug hence this post , the star tables were £ 8 an hour for members and £ 10 an hour for non for members then .

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby McManusFan

The one I've been to a couple of times in Melbourne charges $18/hour or a reduced rate of $12/hour for solo practice. They have a half price deal during weekdays before 6pm though. It's a little pricey, but everything is here.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby Juddernaut88

There was a good club I used to play regularly in for like 6 years till they closed last year. It was £15 to play all day between 9am-6pm. Split that in half and it's £7.50 each. I think it was like £6 per hour if people decided to play for 1 or 2 hours.
Rileys was £20 to play all day only during the week though but that was from 11am-5pm most days but Wednesday it opens at 10am. Ever since Rileys has been back open prices have gone up like mad. It's around £28 to play for 4 hours so that's £14 each.
I'm still trying to find a club near me.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby PLtheRef

The local club I'm a member of is £6.70 an hour (gone up £1 since re-opening.) They have £11 and £13 all day offers during the week and at weekends but these are currently off I believe (or at least no good for me as I'm at work) - 11pm-6pm.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby Juddernaut88

[quote="badtemperedcyril"]Where I play it’s £1 for 20 minutes light[/quote

There is a sports centre near me that have 2 snooker tables and I think it's 50p every 20 minutes but there are no guarantees you can play for like 3-5 hours, it will all depend on if other people are waiting or not, it's all about luck lol. That is a good option for me though to play for 1 or 2 hours at least though.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby badtemperedcyril

Juddernaut88 wrote:
badtemperedcyril wrote:Where I play it’s £1 for 20 minutes light[/quote

There is a sports centre near me that have 2 snooker tables and I think it's 50p every 20 minutes but there are no guarantees you can play for like 3-5 hours, it will all depend on if other people are waiting or not, it's all about luck lol. That is a good option for me though to play for 1 or 2 hours at least though.

This is a Working Mens Club. There are 2 full sized tables and a 3/4 size. They don't get used all that much so it's not normally an issue - can play for as long as you want during club opening hours.

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby Dan-cat

cupotee wrote:I’d only play at the dunstable snooker club now as i wouldn’t be bothered with any compromise from pro tables , haven’t played for three years but used to play at the hurricane clubs kings cross acton and tooting which are all closer to me but wouldn’t look at them now because they don’t have well maintained star xing pai’s , the dunstable club only had two xing pai’s when i last played there in 2017 , apparently they’ve got five now , the club deserves a plug hence this post , the star tables were £ 8 an hour for members and £ 10 an hour for non for members then .


You only play at clubs with Xing Pais?

Re: How much does it cost to play?

Postby cupotee

Dan-cat wrote:
cupotee wrote:I’d only play at the dunstable snooker club now as i wouldn’t be bothered with any compromise from pro tables , haven’t played for three years but used to play at the hurricane clubs kings cross acton and tooting which are all closer to me but wouldn’t look at them now because they don’t have well maintained star xing pai’s , the dunstable club only had two xing pai’s when i last played there in 2017 , apparently they’ve got five now , the club deserves a plug hence this post , the star tables were £ 8 an hour for members and £ 10 an hour for non for members then .


You only play at clubs with Xing Pais?


Yes playing on ordinary club tables feels like almost a different sport to playing on proper pro tables so i wouldn’t bother playing on ordinary tables anymore , on a pro table the speed of the cushions and cloths , the width of the cushion rails , the daunting restriction of the pockets , better to be more familiar with all of that than going down to your local club for a ‘ bish bash ‘ , doesn’t do a person’s game any good at all if you’re modelling it on the pro’s , better to keep the familiarity of a pro table in your head and leaving anything else aside . :-)


   

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