Snooker: Are UK clubs starting to flourish as the elite game enters its golden period?

The Rileys chain, once also synonymous with providing equipment to the highest level of the sport, was perhaps the most recognizable face of snooker clubs across the UK at one time.

However, it now runs just 15 clubs, a worrying decline from 165 clubs during its peak years.

However, this contraction was not at all unusual in the UK’s major cities and towns.

Just trying to organize a few frames with friends has become difficult for those who play recreationally, while searching for phrases such as “snooker club closure” online highlights the depth to which club closures are affecting communities.

Iconic institutions such as the Willie Thorne Snooker Center in Leicester, which incubated and helped develop the skills of young Mark Selby, were among those to have fallen by the wayside in the past 15 years.

Rising rental and operating costs, declining junior participation, the coronavirus pandemic and the long-term impact of things like smoking bans – and government legislation on the size of jackpots from slot machines – have all taken their toll.

This was backed up by Sport England figures which showed the number of over-16s playing at least once a week fell from 112,600 to just 47,700 between 2005 and 2014.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Jason Ferguson, president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), said: “If you turn back the clock to the 1980s, it was a boom time for snooker in the UK and there was a club on every street corner.

“But it actually reached a massive saturation point where it had to scale back. There was no doubt about that. You need big buildings, you need huge spaces to go around the tables, and there’s a limited amount of money you can charge for using a snooker table.”

“So we’re being pushed out of towns and prime city center sites and being pushed into industrial units and that sort of thing. We’ve also lost clubs due to planning applications. The thing with snooker clubs is, if you have a city center site and it’s a prime location, what happens?”

“Well, planning applications are being submitted for flats, flats and whatever else, snooker club leases are being terminated, those clubs are not being replaced, and that presents a real challenge.”